Australia A face South Africa A in one-day tri-series opener

Matthew Wade and Dean Elgar

Chennai, Aug 4 (IANS)

After beating India convincingly in a four-day unofficial Test match, Australia A will be high in confidence when they take on South Africa A in the Triangular 'A' series opening List A match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.

Australia A hammered India A by 10 wickets on the fourth day of the second and final four-day cricket match to pocket the series 1-0 on Saturday.

South Africa A landed on Friday and didn't get much time to adapt to the sub-continental conditions and will go into the tri-series a little under-prepared against Australia A.

The selectors might view this series as a trial for some of the fringe players

After the conclusion of tri-series, South Africa A will play a couple of unofficial Test matches against India A.

The South African senior team for four Tests and five One-Day International (ODI) series against India starting late September will be announced soon and the selectors might view this series as a trial for some of the fringe players.

In the batting department, Australia A will depend on Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade, Callum Ferguson, while Chris Lynn, James Pattinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile form a formidable pace bowling unit.

On the other hand, skipper Dean Elgar will be the key batsman as far as South Africa A are concerned. In the bowling department, Marchant de Lange, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, David Wiese make a healthy pace bowling line-up.

South Africa ‘A’ squad: Dean Elgar, Cody Chetty, Theunis de Bruyn, Marchant de Lange, Cameron Delport,  Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Eddie Leie, Keshav Maharaj, Omphile Ramela, Mthokozisi Shezi, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Dane Vilas, David Wiese, Khaya Zondo.

Australia ‘A’ squad: Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Cameron Boyce, Joe Burns, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Callum Ferguson, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, James Pattinson, Gurinder Sandhu, Adam Zampa. Stand-by: Andrew Fekete.