Sam Konstas and Kurtis Patterson will kick off their push for a berth on this year’s Test tour of South Africa in Darwin with the NSW batting pair to face Bangladesh in a warm-up match ahead of next month’s series against Australia.
Selectors have today named a 14-player Cricket Australia XI to face the touring Tigers in a three-day red-ball fixture beginning on August 6, a week before the two-Test series opener at Darwin’s Marrara Stadium.
The tour match will be played at the adjacent Marrara Cricket Ground with both sides agreeing to a 13-a-side contest, meaning it won’t have first-class status.
CA XI squad v Bangladesh: Campbell Kellaway (Victoria), Campbell Thompson (SA), Corey Rocchiccioli (WA), Hanno Jacobs (SA), Jake Doran (Tasmania), Jerrssis Wadia (SA), Josh Philippe (NSW), Kurtis Patterson (NSW), Sam Konstas (NSW), Teague Wyllie (Tasmania), Tom Menzies (SA), Tom Rogers (Victoria), Xavier Crone (Victoria), Noah McFadyen (SA)
Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Philippe joins NSW teammates Konstas and Patterson as the players with senior international experience in the squad, while consistent Sheffield Shield performers Campbell Kellaway and Corey Rocchiccioli are also out to impress with an abundance of Test cricket on the horizon over the next 12 months.
Australia could play as many as 21 Tests in that period if they make next year’s World Test Championship final, which includes away tours to South Africa (October), India (January-March) and England (June-August), as well as home series against Bangladesh next month and New Zealand from December, and March’s 150th anniversary Test against England.
Konstas was in the XI for Australia’s previous away series against West Indies last year before Jake Weatherald took his place at the top of the order for the Ashes.
Australia had two reserve batters for that three-match trip to the Caribbean – Marnus Labuschagne, who has since earned a recall, and Josh Inglis for the final two Tests.
With Inglis now a mainstay in the Test squad, it leaves at least one auxiliary batting spot up for grabs when Pat Cummins’ side heads to South Africa in October.
Konstas was the fifth highest scorer in the Shield last season after being dropped from the Test team, hitting 660 runs at an average of 33 with one century (against Queensland in December) and nine scores between 30 and 60.
Patterson, meanwhile, who played two Tests in 2019, has roared back into the selection conversation with back-to-back Shield seasons of 743 and 619 runs respectively after spending a period out of the NSW side during the previous 2023-24 summer.
Bangladesh’s pace attack troubled Australia’s ODI batters in last month’s subcontinent series and the Tigers have won four of their past five red-ball internationals, providing for a stern early season test for the group of Aussie hopefuls.
Other contenders like white-ball regular Matthew Renshaw and Nathan McSweeney won’t be part of the CA XI fixture, the latter remaining in the UK to fulfill his commitments with Northamptonshire where he was part of the county’s T20 Blast triumph last Saturday.
The 27-year-old has been the Australia A captain in recent years, with that side to play two four-day matches against India A in Puducherry in late September, providing those on the cusp of the Test squad – especially next year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour – with another chance to stake a claim for higher honours.
Sonya Thompson, CA’s head of national development, said the match against a strong Bangladesh outfit would “give players the opportunity to challenge themselves in a representative environment”.
Emerging South Australians Campbell Thompson, aged 22, and Indian-born allrounder Jerrssis Wadia, 24, are among those who will get a chance to impress, alongside Sheffield Shield-winning batter Teague Wyllie, 22, who has switched states to Tasmania this summer in a bid to reignite his career.
Former Australian coach Tim Nielsen will lead the CA XI with SA’s Steven Crook as his assistant.
Young spinners set for Indian experience
Aussie young gun Joel Davies will get a chance to bolster his subcontinent experience as part of a 13-day training camp at the MRF Academy in Chennai.
It will be the left-arm spin-bowling allrounder’s second appearance on the emerging players’ trip having previously visited the academy in 2023.
Left-arm spin is seen as a vital commodity by Australia for Tests in Asia and Davies is set to be joined by Victorians Doug Warren and Aryan Sharma as selectors seek to build up their stocks behind Matt Kuhnemann.
The 22-year-old Davies made an impressive start to his international career last month with three wickets on T20I debut to help Australia sweep Bangladesh in their three-match series in Chattogram.
Fellow tweakers Raf Macmillan, Lloyd Pope and Jack Sinfield are also part of the 12-player touring group that will be mentored by Australia A coach Tim Paine and Anthony Clark.
The Aussie group will integrate with local players in training and match opportunities, including a pair of two-day games scheduled for August 5-6 and 10-11 on extremely spin friendly pitches.
CA squad for MRF Academy trip (August 1-13): Aryan Sharma (Victoria), Doug Warren (Victoria), Hugh Weibgen (Queensland), Jack Sinfield (Queensland), Jason Sangha (SA), Jayden Goodwin (WA), Joel Davies (NSW), Lloyd Pope (SA), Raf Macmillan (Tasmania), Riley Kingsell (NSW), Matthew Gilkes (SA), Steven Hogan (Queensland)
“Together, these programs allow us to expose a broader pool of players to representative and overseas experiences as we continue to assess and develop talent across Australian cricket,” Thompson said.
Cricket Australia has been sending players to the MRF Academy for more than three decades, with current Test players Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey among those to have previously visited.
Spinners Cooper Connolly, Todd Murphy and Kuhnemann have also benefitted from the opportunity to hone their craft in subcontinent conditions as they make their way into international cricket. Last year’s group included Ollie Peake and Liam Scott who both made their ODI debuts on the subcontinent in recent months.
Other players heading to the MRF Academy include rising Queensland batters Hugh Weibgen and Steven Hogan, and Sheffield Shield winners Jason Sangha (SA) and Jayden Goodwin (WA).
As part of the reciprocal agreement with the MRF program, young Indian quicks Abhishek Moond and Vasudev Prasad Singh have trained alongside the Australian Test squad in Brisbane over the past fortnight.
Bangladesh tour of Australia
Warm-up match v Cricket Australia XI, August 6-8, Marrara Cricket Ground, Darwin, 10am (local)
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium, Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
