Bracken has been sidelined since September due to knee surgery, but Mott expects the left-armer to be available for the landmark Ford Ranger Cup clash.

The 32-year-old was not long ago rated the world's best one-day bowler and endured abortive comebacks in the final two games of his state's doomed Big Bash campaign.

Although Bracken (pictured) pulled out of last week's stoushes with the Redbacks and Queensland, Mott declared the 116-ODI veteran an almost certain starter next Tuesday.

"Nathan will come back into reckoning, he was almost there last week," Mott said.

"He's a big, big chance of playing next Tuesday."

Bracken will make a welcome return to bolster a Blues attack that's missing Brett Lee and Stuart Clark (both injured) and Australian one-day players Shane Watson, Doug Bollinger and Nathan Hauritz.

"Nathan's one of the best bowlers in the world in one-day cricket. He'll be a massive boost to the team with his experience and knowledge," Mott said.

While the NSW bowling looks threadbare, they will boast a high-octane batting list, including Twenty20 wonderkind David Warner, Test openers Simon Katich and Phillip Hughes, Wests product Phil Jaques and emerging superstars Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja.

"As strong as it is, Kat (Katich) has been the backbone of our success and he's had an outstanding summer," Mott said.

Mott admitted the first interstate game played in the Illawarra carried a touch of uncertainty for his side.

"It's a home game for us, but it's a bit different given we have never played there before," Mott said.

"It would be nice to reward the people of Wollongong with a good show."

Victory in the Illawarra would catapult NSW to second on the Ford Ranger Cup table with testing encounters with Queensland (home), Victoria (away) and the Redbacks (away) to come.

The Bulls (21 points) are in pole position to host the first-versus-second final, followed by Tasmania (16), the Bushrangers, Western Australia, the Blues (all 13) and South Australia (8).

"We can come home with a wet sail. If we find some form we will run up the table very quickly," Mott said.

"This is a big game for us, we were disappointing in the Twenty20 and there's some extra resolve to do well."