SYDNEY, (Reuters) – England will come up against the best of Australia’s young cricketing talent in their final Ashes warm-up match against Australia A in Tasmania next week.
All-rounder Cameron White, an old hand at 27 with four test matches under his belt, will captain the young team for the four-day match, which starts in Hobart on Nov. 17.
“The selection panel picked a squad full of some of the best young talent in Australia,” the chairman of the selector’s panel Andrew Hilditch said in a news release yesterday.
“This is an exciting opportunity for these players to play against a highly talented English team on the eve of the Ashes series.”
Although the match takes place after next Monday’s announcement of the Australian squad for the first Ashes test, Hilditch said there was still an opportunity for some of the team to play themselves into the senior squad.
“We have seen quite a few of these players already in or around the Australian team setup across the various formats and this challenge will provide them all with another good opportunity to show what they can do,” he added.
“Every player in the batting line-up is capable of forcing their way into the Australian side this summer.”
Batsman Shaun Marsh will join the squad, which has an average age of 24, providing he can prove his fitness after injuring his lower back in the one-day series against Sri Lanka last week.
The Ashes series opens with the Brisbane test at the Gabba starting on Nov. 25.
Australia A team: Cameron White (captain), Tim Paine, Mark Cameron, Callum Ferguson, Peter George, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Steve O’Keefe, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
