The Australian summer of cricket will launch on September 27, while three Shield rounds are scheduled before the Ashes.
Australia's Test stars will have three rounds of the Sheffield Shield before the first Magellan Ashes Test, with the opening fixture to be played under lights. Hobart will host the domestic one-day finals for the first time as the tournament-style competition spreads its wings.
Insurance brokers Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) are now the naming-rights partners for the 50-over tournament and the Sheffield Shield. The JLT One-Day Cup begins in Brisbane on September 27 with early rounds also at the WACA before moving to Sydney, while the finals will be played at Hobart's Blundstone Arena on October 19 and 21.
The JLT Cup will be broadcast live and free exclusively by cricket.com.au via improved streaming on web and the CA Live app.
The JLT Sheffield Shield will again be streamed live and free, with the first round to be played from October 26 under lights at the WACA, the Gabba and the Adelaide Oval, where the West End Redbacks will host a NSW Blues side brimming with Australia Test players.
Further Shield rounds will be played from November 4 and November 13 ahead of the first Magellan Ashes Test at the Gabba from November 23.
Meanwhile, cricket fans in Victoria will receive a boost with the return of Junction Oval as a first-class venue this summer. The Victorian Bushrangers have gone without a secondary home venue behind the MCG during their Shield three-peat, but the St. Kilda venue is set to host NSW Blues from March 6.
South Australia have added Harry Nielsen, John Dalton and Nick Winter to their list of contracted players for the upcoming season.
Tom Cooper, David Grant and Cam Valente have earned full contracts while Tim Ludeman, Sam Raphael, Wes Agar and Alex Gregory have lost their contracts from last season.
Looks like Harry Nielsen is one right out of the box and has earned his contract.
Well they have invested a lot of time with him and been patient. But will any of the underage keepers jump in front of him by the time Carey loses the gig?
Good time to be a young keeper. Feel like there's some opportunities in the next couple of years.
Carey hopefully a chance to play some Australian cricket.
Ludeman back to Geelong.
Nielsen I quite like but I'm not sure he's good enough against short pitched bowling to thrive in first class cricket. Might be wrong. Admittedly I haven't actually seen him play that often and I'm sure he's been working on this aspect.
Josh Barrett has been a standout gloveman for a long time and his batting the last two seasons is starting to catch up.
Damon Kerr is outstanding with the gloves. Whacks them with the bat though is a bit hit and miss. Has improved his batting. Needs a big season.
Two keepers in the U/19s with wraps on them - Alex Reardon and Lucas Froude. Reardon I think is the No 1. Had a bit of a rocky start to his 1st Grade career last year but by all accounts is technically very good with the gloves. Not as strong with the bat. Froude has mainly played school cricket so far.
This is Tony Clifton! A name to respect! A name to fear!
