Photo Credit: Adelaide Strikers
Alex Carey, Travis Head and Michael Neser have been selected in an 18-player Qantas Australian Men’s Test squad scheduled to tour South Africa next month.
Cricket Australia’s National Selection Panel (NSP) has today announced the Qantas Australian men’s Twenty20 International squad to tour New Zealand and the Qantas Australian men’s Test squad to tour South Africa, both late February.
CA has since confirmed the Qantas Australian men’s T20I tour of New Zealand with New Zealand Cricket (NZC), while constructive discussions between CA and CSA regarding the safety of the Qantas Australian men’s Test tour of South Africa continue.
Accordingly, the NSP has named separate playing squads for the series in New Zealand and South Africa.
“These are unprecedented times. Cricket Australia is committed to playing our role in international cricket while acknowledging the challenges of the pandemic and ensuring the health and safety of our players, staff and community,” said Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager, National Teams.
“The Australian men’s T20I tour of New Zealand and Australian men’s Test tour of South Africa are important to both host boards and we have been working constructively with their respective management teams on the planning for both tours.
Carey has showed outstanding form with both bat and gloves in recent times, notching his second Twenty20 century against Brisbane Heat at Adelaide Oval last week.
The 29-year-old also recently captained Australia A in a three-day tour match against India in December, with scores of 32 and 58 in a drawn match at the SCG.
It will be the first time Carey will be in a Test changeroom.
“When presented with the challenging task of selecting two concurrent Australian men’s squads for overseas tours, we picked our first-choice Test squad given the importance of the proposed series against South Africa,” National Selector Trevor Hohns said.
“The squad is quite similar to that selected for the final two Tests of the recently-completed Border-Gavaskar series, with the exception of Matt Wade, who will join the Australian men’s T20I squad in New Zealand, and the addition of Alex Carey, who has been in strong form with both bat and gloves.
Cricket Australia last September agreed in principle to the concurrent tours as part of its commitment to playing its role in international cricket’s recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
QANTAS AUSTRALIAN MEN’S T20I TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
The NSP has announced the following 18-player squad for the Qantas Australian men’s T20I tour of New Zealand:
Aaron Finch (c) (Victoria)
Matthew Wade (vc) (Tasmania)
Ashton Agar (Western Australia)
Jason Behrendorff (Western Australia)
Mitchell Marsh (Western Australia)
Glenn Maxwell (Victoria)
Ben McDermott (Tasmania)
Riley Meredith (Tasmania)
Josh Philippe (Western Australia)
Jhye Richardson (Western Australia)
Kane Richardson (South Australia)
Daniel Sams (New South Wales)
Tanveer Sangha (New South Wales)
D’Arcy Short (Western Australia)
Marcus Stoinis (Western Australia)
Ashton Turner (Western Australia)
Andrew Tye (Western Australia)
Adam Zampa (New South Wales)
QANTAS AUSTRALIAN MEN’S TEST TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
The NSP has announced the following 19-player squad for the proposed Qantas Australian men’s Test tour of South Africa:
Tim Paine (c) (Tasmania)
Pat Cummins (vc) (New South Wales)
Sean Abbott (New South Wales)
Alex Carey (South Australia)
Cameron Green (Western Australia)
Marcus Harris (Victoria)
Josh Hazlewood (New South Wales)
Travis Head (South Australia)
Moises Henriques (New South Wales)
Marnus Labuschagne (Queensland)
Nathan Lyon (New South Wales)
Michael Neser (Queensland)
James Pattinson (Victoria)
Will Pucovski (Victoria)
Steve Smith (New South Wales)
Mitchell Starc (New South Wales)
Mark Steketee (Queensland)
Mitchell Swepson (Queensland)
David Warner (New South Wales)
