Three Redbacks in Australia A squad

[bloods08]

http://www.redbacks.com.au/Article/News ... 13&id=1530

Three West End Redbacks have been selected by the Cricket Australia National Selection Panel (NSP) for the provisional 24-player squad, which will be trimmed in May, to travel to Zimbabwe mid-year.


Callum Ferguson, Peter George and Nathan Lyon have all been picked in the initial squad.

Australia A will play a one-day tri-series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa, before finishing with two four-day matches against the host. Match details are yet to be confirmed at this stage, but the tour will run from late June to late July.


The provisional 24-player Australia A squad is:


Name - State; Age


George Bailey - TAS; 28
Michael Beer - WA; 26
Luke Butterworth - TAS; 27
Trent Copeland - NSW; 25
Nathan Coulter-Nile - WA; 23
Patrick Cummins - NSW; 17
James Faulkner - TAS; 20
Callum Ferguson - SA; 26
Aaron Finch - VIC; 24
Peter George - SA; 24
Jon Holland - VIC; 23
Phillip Hughes - NSW; 22
Usman Khawaja - NSW; 24
Nathan Lyon - SA; 23
Nicolas Maddinson - NSW; 19
Mitchell Marsh - WA; 19
Shaun Marsh - WA; 27
Stephen O'Keefe - NSW; 26
Tim Paine - TAS; 26
James Pattinson - VIC; 20
Steven Smith - NSW; 21
Mitchell Starc - NSW; 21
Matthew Wade - VIC; 23
David Warner - NSW; 24


Commenting on the squad, National Talent Manager Greg Chappell said: “The NSP has today announced a 24-player provisional squad for the mid-year tour to Zimbabwe. We have given the provisional squad advanced notice for this tour to allow them sufficient time to prepare for the series pending selection in the final squad.


“The Australia A program in recent years has played a big role in readying athletes for the rigors of international cricket, with players such as Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Cam White and Mitchell Starc all coming in to the Australian setup at varying times over the last couple of years and having an impact.


“This group is a cross section of the best young players in the country. Some of them have already had a taste of international cricket and show signs of being among those that will be the backbone of our teams in the future, while the others have shown enough in domestic cricket to suggest that they are the type of cricketer that we will need to be able to challenge India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka for supremacy in the next few years.


“This tour is an important one as they continue their development and will give all players selected in the final squad in May an opportunity to push for higher honours.


“With the new World Test Championship and the new ODI ranking periods beginning straight after the ICC Cricket World Cup and with tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa later this year and New Zealand and India touring Australia next summer, it will be a great opportunity for these young players to show their skills and put their name forward to be part of this challenging period for Australian cricket,” Chappell said.


The final Australia A squad will be announced in May.


The last time an Australian representative team visited Zimbabwe was in 2008 when a Centre of Excellence Scholarship team toured Africa.

[Brodlach]

Lyon from grasscutter to Australia A in less than 3 months...great work.

[stampy]

Lyon from grasscutter to Australia A in less than 3 months...great work.

well AB did identify him as a talent during the T20 and he is no worse than krejza