Cricket Australia (CA) has announced two separate 12-member squads for a four-day intra-squad match to prepare for the upcoming Ashes 2019.
These participating teams are Hick XII and Haddin XII. CA has named these two teams in the names of the batting coach Graham Hick and fielding coach Brad Haddin. They will face each other in a four-day game at The Rose Bowl (Southampton) from this Tuesday (23rd July).
CA separated the two Australian sides through a draft
On last Friday (19th July) night, the CA organised the players’ draft to pick up the players for each team. The Test captain and wicketkeeper, Tim Paine, will lead Hick XII. Meanwhile, Australia’s joint vice-captain in Test cricket, Travis Head will play the captain’s role of Haddin XII.
Out of these 24 players, 15 players have travelled to England to play for Australia A.
Among the ball-tampering accused, Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith are in the Hick XII and the opener David Warner in the Haddin XII.
Most of the regular batsmen in international cricket are in Hick XII. On the other hand, most of the regular national team bowlers are in Haddin XII. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood will serve for Haddin XII along with the senior pacer Peter Siddle. The left-arm spinner John Holland will take the spin-bowling responsibility for Haddin XII. Meanwhile, off-spinner Nathan Lyon is in the Hick XII along with the pacers James Pattinson, Jackson Bird and Chris Tremain.
Apart from the wicketkeeper Tim Paine, Matthew Wade is also in the Hick XII. The wicketkeeper Wade played his last international match in October 2017.
In the meantime, Alex Carey will keep the wicket for Haddin XII.
Usman Khawaja will miss this game as he is still recovering from the hamstring injury. He received this injury during Australia’s last round-robin stage game (against South Africa) in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
It is expected that the CA will announce the Ashes squad on Friday (26th July) after this match.
Australia will begin their Ashes 2019 journey against the hosts England on 1st August. They will play the first Test of this five-match series at Edgbaston (Birmingham).
Here are the full squads of the intra-squad match
Hick XII: Joe Burns, Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c, wk), Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Chris Tremain, Nathan Lyon
Haddin XII: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Travis Head (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Will Pucovski, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland.