Sydney: Australia openers Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney were on Thursday named in the ‘A’ squad bound to India to play two four-day matches in Lucknow in September, with an eye on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2026-27.
Konstas had replaced McSweeney during the last India-Australia series Down Under but has failed to nail his spot at the top of the order, having endured a disappointing outing in Caribbean even as his side thoroughly dominated the West Indies.
The 19-year-old Konstas is the only current Test player to be named in the ‘A’ side while the other capped players include McSweeney, Cooper Connolly and spinner Todd Murphy.
Murphy, who has so far featured in seven Tests, played each of the four matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy during their India tour in 2022-23, which Australia lost 1-2, claiming 14 wickets.
Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au, “The subcontinent provides many unique challenges and the opportunity to utilise different skills with bat and ball.”
“We hope repeated experiences in these conditions will assist players in developing an effective method and understanding of their game for future subcontinent tours.”
“For many of these players we remain interested in the development of their short-form cricket as well, but balancing out priorities meant we wanted them back and available for the start of the Sheffield Shield season,” he added.
A notable miss in the red-ball squad are Jason Sangha, who scored 202 not out against Sri Lanka A in Darwin last month, and Matthew Renshaw, who too has the experience of playing Tests in India.
Sangha, however, has been named in the one-day squad for the three matches to be played in Kanpur.
The two four-day matches will be played in Lucknow from September 16-19 and September 23-26, while the three one-day games will be on September 30, October 3 and 5 respectively.
Squads:
Four-Day matches: Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Aaron Hardie, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Phillippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott.
One-Day squad: Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Mackenzie Harvey, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, Callum Vidler.
