Cricket news 2024: Fresh faces to push Test cases in Australia A squad
A suite of fresh faces are poised to included in an Australia A squad that will take on India A later this month, as the battle for the remaining spot in the Aussie Test team heats up.
Boy wonder Sam Konstas is poised to take another step towards consideration for a dream Test debut when the Australia A team is unveiled on Monday.
Not since Ricky Ponting has a batsman so young made two hundreds in the same Shield game, and now the opening prodigy appears set for the chance to test his wares against an Indian A team on the eve of five Tests against the sub-continental giants.
Australia is desperately on the hunt for a new opening batsman, with Cameron Green’s summer-ending injury likely to push Steve Smith back down to no.4 for the Tests.
The Australia A side to be named on Monday really will showcase the future of Australian cricket.
The respective rises of Fergus O’Neill and Corey Rocchiccioli are set to be franked with the pair poised to be included for the A matches beginning later in the month.
Meanwhile Tasmanian all-rounder Beau Webster will have the chance to mount his case for Test selection with the late-bloomer poised to be rewarded for an outstanding 12 months.
Webster, 30, will join perennial fringe-dwellers Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft in the squad for the two matches four-dayers, set to be played in Mackay and Melbourne.
ODI breakthrough stars Cooper Connelly and Aaron Hardie, both from WA, are also set to be named by selectors.
With Green unlikely to feature in Test cricket this summer, the trio, along with South Australia’s Nathan McSweeney, will all be able to stake claims for higher honours via the Australia A series.
McSweeney is likely to captain the side, having previously done so and having been appointed SA skipper for this season.
Victorian seamer O’Neill had a breakout campaign last season, winning the Bill Lawry Medal and the Dean Jones Medal as the Vics’ best men’s red-ball and white-ball player respectively as well as being crowned Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year.
He will feature in the squad alongside Vics teammates Scott Boland, who will gear up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series by facing India’s understudies.
West Australian off-spinner Rocchiccioli, 27, was the outstanding tweaker in the Sheffield Shield last summer, claiming 46 wickets to help his state to a third straight title.
He is in the mix to be included in the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka next January and February, likely vying with Victorian offie Todd Murphy for a spot in that touring party.
Murphy, who played six Tests last year across the tours of India and England, will also feature in the Australia A squad.
Australian selectors will also unveil a one-day squad for the overlapping series against Pakistan.
Tasmanian coach Jeff Vaughan was on Friday optimistic that paceman Nathan Ellis would be fit to return from injury in that three-match series.
Cricket Australia has still not confirmed the extent of Green’s back injury. The West Australian all-rounder was last week weighing up whether to undergo back surgery.
Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson pushed Webster’s case in a Sunday column with The West Australian.
“He has certainly given himself the best chance leading into the summer. What I like about Webster, 30, is that he is determined to improve. He switched from off-spin bowling to medium pace four years ago and put a lot of time and thought into building up his body to make that switch happen,” Johnson wrote.
“He was a bit of a floating batsman but has now locked down a spot as an attacking No.6. It shows he understands his role and what he can bring to a team and that could fit into the Test team’s style of play.
“Webster has proved he is very capable, and I can’t see any reason not to pick him if Australia wants someone who can offer seam bowling support to the big three.”
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