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The New South Wales-centric schedule had been a source of considerable angst among other teams, but a smattering of matches in Perth and Brisbane this year mean the Blues will not be the only team playing at home

Daniel Brettig30-Sep-2016Slowly but surely, the Matador Cup’s national footprint is expanding again. Its New South Wales-centric schedule has been a source of considerable angst among other teams since the tournament was moved to an early season carnival format three years ago, but a smattering of matches in Perth and Brisbane this year mean the Blues will not be the only team playing at home.Last season’s competition was affected by the cancellation of Australia’s Bangladesh tour for security reasons, meaning it was contested by full strength teams across all six states. This time around the scenario is rather different: not only is the Australian ODI team on tour in South Africa, but numerous bowlers, notably Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, are absent injured or resting.This means a knock-on effect for numerous states, most notably South Australia. The reward for emergent displays in both the Matador Cup and the Sheffield Shield last year mean than no fewer than four first-choice Redbacks – Travis Head, Adam Zampa, Daniel Worrall and Joe Mennie – are in South Africa. The coach Jamie Siddons has acknowledged the challenge ahead.”We feel ready despite missing bowlers from last year’s attack and it’s going to be difficult without them,” Siddons said. “But we have a couple of young guys that have some tricks in their repertoire. It’s not going to be easy or the same, we have to find another way of doing it with different types of players and we’re ready and aiming for similar success.”I think it’s really exciting watching the young guys play and the next step is to promote a few more of them like Jake Lehmann, Jake Weatherald, Alex Ross and Alex Carey – who are all really good chances of pushing their names forward now. Our aim is to be successful again and win games and if those guys step up like I think they will we should match last year – maybe we’re looking at batsmen to step up instead of the bowlers this time.”Victoria are another state needing to reach deeper into their squad for bowlers in particular, with John Hastings, Scott Boland and Chris Tremain in South Africa and Peter Siddle and James Pattinson still working their way back from injury. The new coach Andrew McDonald, only recently returned from Leicestershire to replace David Saker, must also work with Glenn Maxwell in the aftermath of the enigmatic allrounder’s ill-timed bid to move to NSW for the summer.McDonald’s old Bushrangers team-mate Brad Hodge has s still more vexing task as the mentor of the Cricket Australia XI, a youthful hodgepodge (no pun intended) of players from across the states who did not make it into the first-choice squads. This is the second of a two-year experiment with the XI, designed to provide additional opportunities for young players against the best of domestic players.The concept has not been universally loved, even if the CA XI recovered last season from a horrid start to win a game over Tasmania and produce a handful of players – Hilton Cartwright, Mitch Swepson, Jimmy Peirson – able to progress further over the course of the season that followed. Many among the states feel the team is emblematic of CA’s desire for central developmental control, rather than simply building the most competitive tournament possible. A lack of any senior players to leaven out the youth, even with the likes of Ben Rohrer, Chris Hartley and Chadd Sayers available, has only heightened that impression.Justin Langer, coach of Western Australia, spoke for many of the tension between development and competition. The Sheffield Shield too has been subject to numerous stratagems designed to help the Australian team overall, but experiments like pink ball matches and the use of Dukes balls for a portion of the shield this season has left Langer and others questioning their wisdom.”We make Cricket Australia very aware that we have to keep the integrity of the game,” he said. “We have the best domestic competition in the world, but it is frustrating at times. This season we will play two pink-ball games, three with red Kookaburras and five with Dukes balls and hopefully six with the Dukes. I like consistency.”Consistent or not, the Matador will afford many players the chance to either secure their state spots at the outset of the season, or put their names in lights for Australian selection into the future. Whether in Perth, Brisbane or Sydney, many a selection question will get closer to being answered.

Malcolm Waller, whose late hitting drove Zimbabwe to 187 for 6 in their 31-run win over Bangladesh, says the win has upped the morale of the dressing room and feels that the wet conditions were equally testing for both sides

Mohammad Isam20-Jan-2016Bangladesh struck more fours, but Zimbabwe were way ahead in the sixes tally in the third T20I in Khulna. The home side were not able to get any boundaries for 36 balls since the start of the 11th over. They had eight wickets in hand at the time, and needed to go after the bowling considering the asking rate was over 10.Zimbabwe stifling the runs during that period, and Malcolm Waller’s big-hitting 49 shaped their 31-run win to stay alive in the four-match series. He struck four sixes, one each in the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th overs, lifting his team to 187 for 6 in their 20 overs.This win is Zimbabwe’s first in T20Is since November last year, which was also against Bangladesh and Waller had been the guiding hand again striking 40 off 27 balls in a final-over thriller.”Winning this game was very nice,” he said. “The guys are very happy. It is a happy change room. There’s a lot of laughter. To get a win was definitely good. In the last few weeks we have played games probably we should have won but couldn’t quite get over the line. So to do that today, we are happy for all of us.”Waller believed batting first had been an advantage in Khulna, where rain delayed the start of the match and also interrupted play in the first innings. “I think the way we were going about it, it was probably good to bat first on this wicket and set a target. Having a score on the board is obviously a good positive thing. No matter what the conditions look like, we will bat first and defend.Waller also made a point to say that wet conditions were not the deciding factor since, like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe’s bowlers also had a tough time on the field. “It was just as difficult for us in the field. The ball was really wet. It was tough for our spinners to hold the ball and seamers to bowl slower balls. I know the pitch got slower but we batted 12 overs in the wet conditions. So I am not sure rain had a big part [in Bangladesh’s defeat],” he said.Elton Chigumbura was rested for the second game in a row, but Waller said that it was just a ploy to test other players. “We have had a lot of cricket over the last four months. We have been away from home a lot.”This is a good time for us to try different combinations – rest Elton and watch other guys. He will be back but it is a good opportunity to show what the other guys can do before the World T20.”

Nottinghamshire have signed Australian seamer Peter Siddle on a two-year contract

George Dobell10-Nov-2015Nottinghamshire have signed Australia seamer Peter Siddle on a two-year contract. The 30-year-old – who has played 57 Tests and taken 198 wickets at an average of 29.87 – will play four-day and 50-over cricket for the county throughout the English season.Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, believes Siddle, who claimed match figures of 6 for 67 in the final Ashes Test at the Kia Oval, will be ideal for conditions in the UK and will benefit the club’s young bowlers with his experience.”Peter brings high quality quick bowling and is a good fellow who fits in well with the team,” Newell said. “He will provide leadership to our young bowling attack.”If you look at the Ashes, he had some success at the Oval and Australia might regret not playing him in some of the earlier matches. He’s very much suited to English conditions and we’re certainly hoping to get the best out of him for the next couple of seasons.”Siddle is returning for a second spell with Notts having played 11 Championship matches for the county in 2014, taking 37 wickets at a modest average of 31.48 with no five-wicket hauls.He played four games for Lancashire, then in Division Two, ahead of the 2015 Ashes, recording a more impressive haul of 18 wickets at 20.55.”I really enjoyed my time at Trent Bridge in 2014 and I can’t wait to come back,” Siddle said. “Notts have had a strong batting line-up for a long time and with some young bowlers also coming through I’m excited by the way the squad is shaping up ahead of the new season.”Siddle made his Test debut in 2008, took an Ashes hat-trick in 2010 and has claimed four five-wicket hauls against England, including 5-50 at Trent Bridge in 2013. He is currently part of the Australia squad for the home series against New Zealand and will arrive at Trent Bridge following the conclusion of the Sheffield Shield season.

Cricket South Africa will host its first transformation ‘indaba’ (conference) in Johannesburg in more than a decade this weekend to review the progress of its ability to reach out to previously disadvantaged groups

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2013Cricket South Africa will host its first transformation ‘indaba’ (conference) in Johannesburg in more than a decade this weekend to review the progress of its ability to reach out to previously disadvantaged groups. The meeting will focus on the transformation policy and assess where it can improve in providing facilities, resources and access in previously disadvantaged communities, with particular emphasis to black African areas.The organisation admitted that in the past they, “might have been policy complaint without achieving real transformation” and there is evidence of such in the numbers. Since South Africa’s readmission in 1991, 81 players have played Test cricket, of which only five – Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Thami Tsolekile and Monde Zondeki – are black Africans.Last season was the first time a black African was in charge of a franchise. Geoffrey Toyana was appointed at the Lions and had a successful debut season winning the domestic T20 competition and sharing the one-day cup in 2012-13. In an attempt to increase representation, earlier this year, Linda Zondi, a former black African KwaZulu-Natal wicketkeeper, was appointed to the national selection panel.The indaba will focus on seven broad streams, including governance, procurement of goods/services and appointment of staff, professional cricket, amateur cricket, funding, transformation legacy/history, selection of teams/appointment of officials.”Transformation: ‘time to do the right thing’, will be the theme behind our indaba,” said CSA President Chris Nenzani. “”We should remind ourselves that it is also a constitutional imperative and we owe it to all the people of our country to make sure that the playing field is level for everyone. In the past we might have been policy compliant without achieving real transformation and the time has arrived for that to change.”Haroon Lorgat, CSA CEO, said that one of the first steps he had taken since assuming office was to appoint a dedicated transformation manager, Max Jordaan, in his executive team.”Transformation must be in our hearts and minds and I have noticed a willingness from all stakeholders, in particular, the Proteas who have been a driving force in recent times,” Lorgat said. “As our senior role models they would also be the ultimate beneficiaries of all the good that we intend to achieve.”There have also been some fantastic initiatives recently such as the Momentum eKasi Challenge and I hope to develop this across the country before the start of every new season.”The last conference on transformation took place in 2002.

Jackson Bird will become Australia’s 431st Test cricketer on Boxing Day against Sri Lanka after the coach Mickey Arthur confirmed the left-armer Mitchell Starc would be rested

Brydon Coverdale24-Dec-2012Jackson Bird will become Australia’s 431st Test cricketer on Boxing Day against Sri Lanka after the coach Mickey Arthur confirmed the left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc would be rested. The decision means the only remaining uncertainty around Australia’s side is the fitness of the captain Michael Clarke, who will be given until the morning of the match to prove himself ready, after batting in the MCG nets on Monday.Bird, 26, will share the new ball with Peter Siddle and his strong record in Melbourne, where he has taken 14 first-class wickets in two matches, indicates he should be suited to the conditions. However, there will be extra pressure on Bird given that the man he is replacing, Starc, collected 5 for 63 in the second innings of Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka in Hobart and remains fit and will be left out only because of workload concerns.Starc, 22, is expected to return to the side for the Sydney Test, and his rotation out of the team means Bird, Siddle and Mitchell Johnson will share the pace duties in Melbourne. Arthur defended Australia’s decision to rest Starc, who has taken 14 wickets in the past two Tests, and said it was made with the goal of ensuring he will remain fit for Australia’s busy upcoming schedule in 2013.”That’s a real tough decision to make,” Arthur said. “It’s a tough conversation with Mitch and he took it very well. He’s clearly very disappointed and I wouldn’t expect anything other than that. We’ve just got to look and see the amount of cricket that we’ve got going forward. Mitch is integral to that.”Mitch is our one quick bowler who plays in all three forms of the game. He starts in all three forms of the game. It is tough on Mitch but hopefully he misses one Test to make sure that we don’t have another injury and that there’s a lot of longevity with that decision and he’s ready to go in the one-dayers, he’s ready to go for the tour of India and he’s ready to go for the Ashes.”Arthur said he was confident Bird could handle the pressures of Test cricket given the way he had risen to first-class cricket since making his debut last summer. Bird, who plays for Tasmania having moved from New South Wales to gain greater opportunities, is a consistent bowler who works on a nagging line and length.”When he went down to Tassie he has bowled unbelievably well, he’s taken 50 wickets last season and well on the way, leading wicket-taker in the Shield this year,” Arthur said. “He brings line and length, he brings pressure, he swings the ball out, he brings some nice pace. He’s got all the attributes of a quick bowler. We’ve got a lot of faith in Jackson. At the start of the summer we had a list of bowlers that we wanted to keep fresh and keep ready to go and Jackson was one of them.”Bird spent Monday morning working hard in the nets, where all eyes were on Australia’s captain Clarke, who continued his recovery from a hamstring injury. Clarke faced 15 minutes of throwdowns from the assistant batting coach Stuart Law and then spent about half an hour facing the bowlers, including Johnson, Nathan Lyon and John Hastings, who is not part of the squad, and he also jogged between the wickets to test his running.Australia will not make a decision on whether Clarke leads the side or hands the reins to the vice-captain Shane Watson until the morning of the match, and while Arthur said he was happy with Clarke’s progress, he also indicated that the upcoming workload would need to be taken into consideration. The decision will be made based on advice from Clarke and the team physio Alex Kountouris.”We’ll give the skipper as long as possible,” Arthur said. “That might only be on the morning of the game. He’s clearly improving. Whether or not that gets it over the line I’m not sure. But we’ll give him right until the very last before we make that call.”I’d love Michael Clarke captaining the team in a Boxing Day Test match with a series on the line. He went far better today than he did yesterday and I suspect he’ll go far better tomorrow than he did today. It’s a 50-50 call. We’ve got to be mindful as well, much like the Mitchell Starc decision, of the amount of important cricket that we’ve got coming up. We’ve got to be intelligent with the decision we make. But if I was a betting man I’d bet on Michael Clarke leading the team out on Boxing Day.”Dean Jones, the former Test batsman and batting coach of South Australia, has been on hand at the MCG over the past couple of days, working as a mentor to the batsmen in the same way that Allan Border, Greg Blewett, Tom Moody and Matthew Hayden have earlier this summer. Jones spent plenty of time with Clarke in the nets on Monday and said while he was impressed with the captain’s work, the test would be running between the wickets in a match situation.”[He was ] absolutely superb, I couldn’t fault him at all,” Jones said. “He ran a bit between the wickets and he was good. He’s going to take it until the last minute I think, but batting wise he was fine. [But] with the soft surrounds around the pitch, if you bat first and you’re running between the wickets, you get into a situation where there might be half a chance of a run-out, you put your spikes in and you see what happens there. I’m bullish the way he is. He looked really good in the nets. Better than yesterday.”

A round-up of the semi-finals of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2011Rawalpindi Rams brushed aside Lahore Lions by 47 runs in the first semi-final of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup in Faisalabad.Choosing to bat, Rawalpindi put on 186 for 4, on the back of quickfire half-centuries by Jamal Anwar and Sohail Tanvir. Rawalpindi were in a spot of bother at 66 for 3 in the eighth over, but the pair steered them to an imposing total with a 111-run fourth-wicket stand. Lahore were behind in the chase from the outset, losing wickets regularly to be 96 for 9, before a late blitz from Adnan Rasool carried them to 139. Opening bowler Mohammad Rameez and left arm-spinner Raza Hasan were the pick of the Rawalpindi bowlers, picking up two wickets apiece in tight spells.In the second semi-final, Karachi Dolphins beat Sialkot Stallions in a high-scoring encounter, setting up the final clash against Rawalpindi on Friday.Batting first, Karachi lost opener Shahzaib Hasan cheaply. There was no success for the bowlers for a while after that though, as Asad Shafiq and Rameez Raja (2) muscled 164 off 13.3 overs at a run-rate of 12.14. Raja, who was striking at 215.55, fell three short of a hundred, but Shafiq batted through, finishing 91 not out off 55 balls. Set a massive 239 for victory, Sialkot lost a couple early before launching an attack. Going at over ten runs per over for much of the innings, they still fell 42 short. They lost wickets at regular intervals in pursuit of quick runs, and were bowled out for 196 with seven balls to spare. Fast bowler Sohail Khan was easily the best of the bowlers, claiming four Sialkot wickets and conceding just 18 off four overs, while all his team-mates went at over 11 runs an over.

Botswana captain Akrum Chand is confident that his aggressive approach will help his side as they host the World Cricket League Division 7

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Apr-2011Botswana captain Akrum Chand is confident that his aggressive approach will help his side as they host the World Cricket League Division 7.Chand, who previously captained in 2006, feels his experience will also be important for the side. “I wasn’t able to travel to Jersey in 2006 due to injury nor did I travel to Singapore for Division 6 in 2009 but I have captained the side previously and I’m looking forward to leading them again in this event,” he said.”I believe in being aggressive when it comes to our game – it will be about being on the offensive and not defensive when it comes to our matches.””We’ve been working very hard ahead of this tournament with the side dedicating the last six months to preparing for the event. We’ve been to Zimbabwe and South Africa for camps and I feel as a side we’re well prepared for the event.”The team is a mixture of youth and experience with a few players coming up from the under-19 side. Part-time wicketkeeper-batsman Karabo Motlhanka, all-rounder Waseem Tajbhay as well as fast bowler Segolame Ramatu are all good prospects in the side while we’ve experience in the likes of James Moses who has been playing for Botswana for over 10 years and knows what the team is about and how to guide the players if needs be.Kuwait and Germany are the new sides in the division and Chand conceded they will be an unfamiliar challenge. “We don’t know huge amounts about the promoted teams for this event,” he said. “But our coach Arjun Menon has worked with some of the other sides in the tournament and has given us some good background to help us prepare. When it comes down to it we will be focusing on our own game and see what we have on day of the games.”Chand admitted the rain in Botswana is a little bit of a concern at the moment but he is confident conditions will be fine come the event. “Although it has been raining a bit this week, I think we should be ok for when the tournament begins. We’re playing on AstroTurf so we can probably expect the ball to bounce and skid a little while the outfields are looking great. One bonus is we’re moving into winter so the temperature is a lot better for playing cricket, around 27 degrees rather than the usual 45!”

The fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s is at the centre of a police investigation into spot-fixing

Cricinfo staff28-Aug-2010The fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s is at the centre of a police investigation into spot-fixing following the arrest of a 35-year-old man, Mazher Majeed, who was allegedly caught claiming to have bribed Pakistan’s bowlers to bowl no-balls on demand.According to a report in The News of the World, Majeed accepted £150,000 to arrange a fix involving Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, whom he allegedly asked to bowl no-balls at specific moments of the match. The paper also alleges that the team captain, Salman Butt, and the wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, are involved, along with three other unnamed cricketers.Cricinfo understands that the players named were questioned about sums of money found in the rooms, though it is thought that those were made up of the daily allowances players are given while on tour. The man arrested, Majeed, is believed to have contacts with the team though until now it was assumed he was acting as an agent for players, helping them secure sponsorship and kit contracts.Officials from the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit are currently flying in from Dubai, and in a statement, the ICC confirmed that the allegations were being taken seriously.”The International Cricket Council, the England & Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board have been informed by the Metropolitan Police that a 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers,” read the statement.”The Metropolitan Police have informed the ICC, ECB and PCB that their investigations continue and ICC, ECB and PCB, with the involvement of the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, are fully assisting those enquiries. No players nor team officials have been arrested in relation to this incident and the fourth npower Test match will continue as scheduled on Sunday. As this is now subject to a police investigation neither ICC, ECB, PCB, nor the ground authority, the MCC, will make any further comment.”A Scotland Yard spokeman added: “Following information received from the News of the World we have today [Saturday, August 28] arrested a 35-year old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.”In a video secretly recorded during the NOTW investigation, a man alleged to be Mazher is clearly heard predicting that Amir would bowl the first over of the England innings, and that he would deliver a no-ball from the first ball of the third over – which as Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary noted: “was an enormous no-ball, good half a metre over the line.” The man also appeared to correctly predict a no-ball from the sixth ball of the tenth over, bowled this time by Asif.Pakistan’s team manager Yawar Saeed confirmed that the allegations were being investigated, with police turning up at the team hotel in Swiss Cottage at 7.30pm, shortly after the close of an eventful third day of the Lord’s Test, in which Pakistan were left on the brink of defeat after losing 14 wickets in the day.According to Sky News reporters outside the team hotel, police officers were seen leaving the building with two bags at around 11pm, while an unidentified man in a Pakistan training top was understood to have been taken away in an unmarked police car from the back of the building, although the team manager denied that any arrests had been made within the squad.Even allowing for their disastrous on-field performance, Pakistan left Lord’s with unusual haste after the third day’s play, with the team bus departing barely 20 minutes after the close of play, before any member of the squad had taken part in the mandatory post-match press conference.

Lalit Modi has reacted strongly against parties that have questioned the security arrangements for the IPL, including Ricky Ponting, FICA and other players’ associations

Cricinfo staff24-Feb-2010Lalit Modi has strongly criticised parties that have expressed concern over the security situation at the IPL, including the Federation of International Cricketers Association and Ricky Ponting.”We will not be dictated by players associations where to play. DLF IPL will be played in India,” Modi posted on his Twitter account, in reaction to safety concerns raised by an independent report commissioned by the players’ unions in England, South Africa and Australia, which suggested moving the IPL outside India.The report, written by the England team’s security adviser Reg Dickason, said there was a credible terrorist threat to the IPL. The Australian Cricketers’ Association had decided to formulate a set of security demands for IPL organisers, following a meeting between Australian players in which Ricky Ponting had apparently clashed with IPL regulars Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchist and Shane Warne.”[I’ve] been told Ricky Ponting is pressuring players not to come. Maybe it’s due to the fact he was dropped from KKR,” Modi tweeted.Modi said that individual players could choose to stay away from the IPL, but such a move could risk their future association with the event. “We will allow replacement for those who decide not to show up. They risk being in future IPLs. The call will be theirs. If a few players play into the hands of the FICA and not show up, no issues.”We allow only four international players per team. [If a] few miss, no issues. We have great talent in each team. More opportunity for replacement to others. We have 98 players on the waiting list eager to get called in for replacement.”Modi refused to recognise the FICA and was critical of the various players’ associations that were bringing up security concerns to “arm-twist” the IPL. “I have been sent messages through various quarters to entertain FICA president Tim May. Unfortunately we do not recognise FICA or any agents,” Modi tweeted.Modi cited examples of sports events currently being hosted in India, such as the India-South Africa series, the hockey World Cup and the upcoming India-Australia series that have not come under security threats like the IPL has.”South African players are touring India as we speak – security is fine for them now as provided by the Indian government. Australia tour India in October – will the Australian Cricketers’ Association dictate them not coming then? Doubt it,” Modi tweeted.

Scott Boland is the reserve fast bowler in a 13-player squad to face India in Perth

Andrew McGlashan09-Nov-20242:20

Malcolm: ‘McSweeney could be a future captain if he finds his feet’

Nathan McSweeney will open the batting for Australia in the first Test against India in Perth having won the race to partner Usman Khawaja while Josh Inglis has been included as the reserve batter in a 13-player squad.McSweeney had firmed as the favourite for the vacant role in recent weeks and though he couldn’t convert two starts against India A at the MCG – where he made 14 and 25 on a tricky pitch opening for the first time his first-class career – he has been preferred ahead of specialist openers including Marcus Harris who does not even make the squad.Related

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“I’ve been able to perform pretty consistently over the past couple of years in Shield cricket. I feel like my game is constantly getting better and improving,” McSweeney said. “I feel like I’m playing probably the best cricket I have. It’s nice to spend some time in the middle against India A in Mackay and here at the MCG and feel like my game’s ready.”McSweeney was only given the word by national selector George Bailey after the end of the second A game at the MCG. “There’s been a lot of talk about it, didn’t really know until I finally got the word, still probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” he said. “Getting a lot of nice messages. Very lucky and grateful for the opportunity.”One of those messages was from Marnus Labuschagne, who has been a mentor to McSweeney from his days with Queensland and with who there are often comparisons.”That was a nice phone call to Marnus last night as well. He’s super chuffed for me, and I’m thankful for his knowledge and the way he’s helped me through the start of my career,” McSweeney said. “At times I probably look similar, and I like to think I’ve got my own way of playing, but definitely using Marnus as a resource, that’s been very helpful for me.”Despite just one match at the top of the order, there is confidence McSweeney is ready for the role. “He’s a player whose growth is on a great trajectory, a very organised, composed player at the crease who has a game that will suit Test cricket,” Bailey said.For McSweeney, very little changes. “Other than walk out one position earlier than I normally do, my prep is the exact same,” he said. “I trained with the new ball batting at three, and you can be in there in the first over of the game.”As expected, Scott Boland takes his place as the back-up quick bowler behind captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for the first Test at Optus Stadium which begins on November 22.The decisions taken by the selectors follows their recent mantra of picking the best six batters rather than focusing too heavily on the positions they traditionally occupy. The vacancy at the top of the order arose after the decision to move Steven Smith back to No. 4 following his four-Test stay earlier this year after the retirement of David Warner.Overall in first-class cricket McSweeney averages 38.16 with six centuries in 34 matches but over the last two years that average rises to 43.44 with all his hundreds coming during that period. In a sign of his standing among the selectors he was handed Australia A captaincy before he led his state, South Australia.Harris looked to have made a strong case for selection with a hard-fought 74 in the first innings against India A in Melbourne but it wasn’t enough to return him to the Test fold. Sam Konstas sealed victory in the match with a fine innings at No. 4 but after early-season excitement with his twin hundreds against South Australia it has been decided it is a little too early for the 19-year-old. Cameron Bancroft’s horror run of form meant he drifted well out of contention but Bailey insisted he and Harris remained in the selectors’ thoughts.”It’s a tough one because whenever the information is first given it potentially feels hollow that they’ve been overlooked again,” Bailey said. “But as I said its just to be really clear to them that not being selected is not us saying that we don’t think you aren’t a good player, we just have to make a decision on who is going to fit the role best and at the moment we think that’s Nathan.”Inglis’ selection is something of a left-field decision but rewards him for being one of the most in-form players this season with two Sheffield Shield hundreds. His credentials were lauded by New South Wales Greg Shipperd last month who said he should be in contention to open. Bailey played that down but did say he could play a role this season and that opportunity is now a step closer. He also provides wicketkeeping back-up for Alex Carey.Inglis will captain Australia for the first time later on Sunday in the deciding ODI against Pakistan and then in the three-match T20I series meaning he will link up with the Test squad after those matches are complete.

Australia squad for 1st Test vs India

Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc