Cricket Australia on January 15 announced the 'A' squad to take on England Lions in a four-day match starting later this month on January 30. The selection panel named Jack Edwards as the captain of the 12-member squad.
The squad boasts of a packed bowling lineup including Brendan Doggett who was included in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 squad for the second and third Test as a backup after Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to injury. The South Australia pacer had impressive returns in the clash against India A as he bagged six wickets for just 15 runs.
The 12-man squad also includes Aaron Hardie who is a part of Australia's ODI squad for the one-off match in Sri Lanka and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
"Following two Australia A fixtures against India A earlier this season which had short-term relevance to the Border Gavaskar Trophy, this match is a valuable opportunity to expose exciting young talent against quality international opposition with a longer lens," said national selector Tony Dodemaide.
"We expect a highly competitive contest against a Lions team who will be keen to stake their individual claims for selection in next summer’s Ashes tour of Australia."
The four-day game will be played at Cricket Central in Sydney's west.
Australia A squad:
Jack Edwards (c), Xavier Bartlett, Brendan Doggett, Jordan Buckingham, Jayden Goodwin, Aaron Hardie, Fergus O'Neill, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe (wk), Corey Rocchiccioli, Will Sutherland, Tim Ward
The opposition team's most prominent member is off-spinner Shoaib Bashir The 21-year-old has played 15 Tests already and has 49 wickets at an average of 40.16 including three five-wicket hauls. Pacer Josh Tongue who is out of the Test squad is another prominent face in the side. Tongue hasn't played Test cricket for England since the Ashes 2023.
England Lions squad
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.