THE 12-MAN Australia A squad to take on England Lions has been announced, featuring some of the nation’s best emerging talents. Together, they will participate in a single four-day clash later this month as the Lions continue their tour. The match takes place from January 30-February 2 at Cricket Central.

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Australia A last played a pair of fixtures against India A as part of the Border Gavaskar Trophy selection process. The touring English squad recently went down to a Cricket Australia XI by seven wickets at Ian Healy Oval, with three players from that Australian team selected once again here.

Namely, they are batters Jayden Goodwin and Tim Ward, along with West Australian spinner Corey Rocchiccioli. Ward is coming off a century in the fourth innings of that match, where his side fought back from a first innings deficit to cruise to victory.

New South Wales allrounder Jack Edwards has been named captain for his maiden Australia A outing. The 24-year-old has enjoyed a stellar Sheffield Shield season to date, averaging 35 with the bat to go with 20 wickets at an average of 21.6 for the Blues.

In a similar vein, although at a different end of the experience spectrum, Kurtis Patterson has earned another International opportunity. The left-handed batter, who played two Tests back in 2019, will make his 18th Australia A appearance having averaged 105.4 runs at Shield level this season.

Among his 527 total runs, Patterson has raised the bat in five of six innings with a standalone unbeaten century coming against Western Australia. The 31-year-old’s return to form comes after being dropped from New South Wales’ Shield side just last summer.

The Shield’s equal leading wicket taker, Fergus O’Neill is among the next generation looking to impress at new heights. He and Victorian captain Will Sutherland will help shape a formidable seam bowling unit along with Xavier Bartlett (Queensland), and SA pair Brendan Doggett and Jordan Buckingham.

Doggett was added to the Australian Test squad this summer, while Bartlett, Sutherland, and allrounder Aaron Hardie have senior caps in white ball formats. The Lions are coached by England great Andrew Flintoff, whose 16-year-old son Rocky is part of the squad.

SQUADS

Australia A: Jack Edwards (NSW) (c), Xavier Bartlett (QLD), Brendan Doggett (SA), Jordan Buckingham (SA), Jayden Goodwin (WA), Aaron Hardie (WA), Fergus O’Neill (VIC), Kurtis Patterson (NSW), Josh Philippe (NSW), Corey Rocchiccioli (WA), Will Sutherland (VIC), Tim Ward (TAS)

England Lions: Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Pat Brown, James Coles, Sam Cook, Alex Davies, Rocky Flintoff, Tom Lawes, Freddie McCann, Ben McKinney, James Rew, Hamza Shaikh, Mitch Stanley, Josh Tongue, John Turner