Australia A squads announced for tour to Zimbabwe

The Cricket Australia National Selection Panel (NSP) on Monday announced the Australia A squads for the tour to Zimbabwe next month.

Australia A will play a one-day tri-series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa A, before finishing with two four-day matches against the host. Zimbabwe Cricket are yet to finalise the playing schedule for the series, however Australia A will depart on 25 June and return on 25 July.

The Australia A squad will assemble at the Centre of Excellence on 6 June for a training camp before departure.

There will be four changes between the one-day and four-day squad with limited overs players Finch, Lyon, Lynn and O'Keefe making way for Beer, Hughes, Khawaja and Krejza for the longer format matches.

Ben Hilfenhaus, Jason Krejza and Chris Lynn have come in from outside the provisional squad list.

The players originally selected in the provisional squad who have missed final selection are: George Bailey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, Peter George, Jon Holland, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Steven Smith and Matthew Wade.

Commenting on the squads, NSP Chairman Andrew Hilditch said: "The NSP has selected two specialist squads for the one-day and four-day sections of the tour.

"The one-day squad boasts some of Australia's most exciting young talent, together with several players who have already represented Australia and enjoyed international success.

"The squad is led by Tim Paine and with his vice-captain Callum Ferguson this presents as a great opportunity for them both to gain leadership experience and we are sure they will both be very successful in these roles.

"The batting line-up includes a strong blend of both youth and experience. David Warner, Paine and Ferguson have all had good exposure at the highest level and their experience will be of great benefit to the younger members of the squad such as Nic Maddinson and Chris Lynn who we consider to have the potential to succeed at international level.

"On the back of a great finish to the 2010-11 season for Queensland, Chris Lynn comes in from outside the provisional squad. It was decided that this presented a good opportunity to test Chris on an international stage.

"The squad also has good balance with two exciting young all-rounders in Mitch Marsh and James Faulkner who both had solid seasons for their states.

"The fast bowlers will be led by the experienced Ben Hilfenhaus who we are keen to get plenty of cricket into following a good break from last season, and also Mitchell Starc who is returning from injury but performed well in Australian colours against Sri Lanka back in early November. They will be well supported by Trent Copeland and Luke Butterworth who both had standout seasons for their respective states.

"The spinners for the one-day series are Stephen O'Keefe who continues to impress with his all-round skills and Nathan Lyon who showed great promise during his debut season for South Australia.

"For the longer format matches of the series; Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Jason Krejza and Michael Beer join the squad. These four players have already played Test cricket for Australia and this tour is seen as a great opportunity for them to get further international cricket ahead of possible selection in the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

"Both squads are well balanced and feature a good blend of international experienced cricketers and some of our best young talent. We see this tour as important step for all players selected as we look to get back to the top of international cricket," Hilditch said.

Troy Cooley is the Australia A coach, while Brian McFadyen will be team manager for the tour.

The last time an Australian representative team visited Zimbabwe was in 2008 when a Centre of Excellence Scholarship team toured Africa.

Additionally, the NSP today also advised that promising young fast bowlers Kane Richardson and Matthew Dixon have been added to the 2011 AIS Scholarship intake at the Centre of Excellence this winter to help cover for bowlers who are departing with the Australia A team.

The oe-day squad is :-

The four-day squad is :-