The National Selection Panel (NSP) has announced the following Australia A XI to play Pakistan in a three-day tour match at Perth Stadium from Monday, November 11:
Australia A XI:
Alex Carey (c) (South Australia)
Marcus Harris (Victoria)
Joe Burns (Queensland)
Usman Khawaja (vc) (Queensland)
Will Pucovski (Victoria)
Travis Head (vc) (South Australia)
Nic Maddinson (Victoria)
Michael Neser (Queensland)
Jhye Richardson (Western Australia)
Sean Abbott (New South Wales)
Riley Meredith (Tasmania)
The 12th man will be chosen closer to the match and drawn from the local Western Australian talent pool.
National selector Trevor Hohns said: “We are pleased to pick a strong XI for the three-day tour match against Pakistan, several of whom were part of our successful Ashes campaign in the UK during the winter.
“We will closely monitor performances in this match as well as the coming rounds of the Sheffield Shield before deciding upon our squad for the two-Test series against Pakistan.
“Alex Carey has proven himself to be an exceptional leader in his role as vice-captain of the Australian men’s One-Day International and Twenty20 International teams.
“This fixture represents an opportunity to provide Alex with more leadership experience and he will be supported by two experienced vice-captains in Usman Khawaja and Travis Head.
“In terms of the batting line-up, we were eager to give Khawaja, Head and Marcus Harris another opportunity to push their respective cases for Test selection this summer given all three were part of our winter Ashes campaign.
“Joe Burns was an unlucky omission for that tour to the UK and deserves a chance to push his case for Test selection in this tour match.
“Additionally, Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson have started the season strongly for Victoria and we’re looking forward to giving them an opportunity to perform against a quality international team. Both are exciting batsmen whom we’ve had our eye on for some time.
“The pace attack is similarly strong. Sean Abbott has been a very good performer for NSW for the last couple of seasons and has improved with both ball and bat.
“Riley Meredith is an exciting young prospect and a wicket-taking option, while Jhye Richardson continues to improve in his return from shoulder surgery. And Michael Neser has started this season in excellent form after touring with the Ashes squad through the winter.
“We’ve taken into account local conditions as well as individual requirements when selecting this Australia A XI. We have not selected a spinner because we felt they would receive limited opportunities in a three-day day-night fixture in Perth compared to a four-day Sheffield Shield match.”
Australia A’s three-day tour match against Pakistan will be a first-class day-night fixture.
Australia will play two Tests against Pakistan beginning at the Gabba on Thursday, November 21 and concluding with a day-night fixture at Adelaide Oval from Friday, November 29.
Pakistan’s tour of Australia
October 31 – Tour match vs Cricket Australia XI, Bankstown Oval
November 3 – First Gillette T20I vs Australia, Sydney Cricket Ground
November 5 – Second Gillette T20I vs Australia, Manuka Oval
November 8 – Third Gillette T20I vs Australia, Perth Stadium
November 11-13 – Tour match vs Australia A, Perth Stadium
November 15-16 – Tour match vs Cricket Australia XI, WACA Ground
November 21-25 – First Domain Test vs Australia, Gabba
November 29-December 3 – Second Domain Test vs Australia, Adelaide Oval
