2012 Australian Country Cricket Championships

The country's best cricketers will converge on Geelong from January 1-12 for the 2012 Commonwealth Bank Australian Country Cricket Championships.

Eight teams - Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and East Asia Pacific - will contest the 12-day carnival, which features a mix of two-day, one-day and Twenty20 matches.

The tournament, staged in Geelong for the first time, has a reputation for unearthing first-class and international cricketers, including Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel and Shaun Tait.

Darcy Short, a left-arm finger spinner from the Northern Territory, became the latest country championships player to graduate to higher honours after making his debut for Western Australia in 2011.

Tournament host Victoria has further underscored its homeground advantage by selecting eight Geelong Cricket Association representatives, including local legend and captain Brad Hauenstein.

Defending champion Western Australia looks hard to beat, having added last year's leading wicket-taker James Sprague to its line-up. Sprague was a revelation for ACT at the 2011 carnival in Bunbury and will again be a threat with his raw pace.

The domestic sides will have an added opponent in the East Asia Pacific, a side comprising promising cricketers from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa. The team has been formed as part of the ICC's East Asia Pacific program.

Another feature of this year's carnival is the annual challenge match between the Australian Cricketers' Association All Stars and a selection of the tournament's top Twenty20 players.

Former greats Greg Matthews, Rodney Hogg, Jimmy Maher and Peter Sleep will take on the best the country has to offer at Torquay's Spring Creek Reserve on Saturday 7 January.