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Aussies name XIs for practice match

Eight new faces join Test squad to tour Bangladesh for intra-squad match in Darwin

Australia's preparation for the Qantas tour of Bangladesh is set to crank up a notch this week with the addition of some of the country's best young talent to the squad in Darwin for a highly competitive Steve Smith XI v David Warner XI three-day clash.

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Among the young faces joining the 14-man touring party are Darwin products Jake Weatherald and Tom Andrews, both of whom made their first-class debuts for South Australia in the 2015-16 season.

Additionally, the three-day contest at Marrara Oval, beginning Monday, will also include Redbacks captain Travis Head, two more South Australians in Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, as well as Victoria trio Marcus Stoinis, Chris Tremain and Jon Holland.

Steve Smith XI: Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Tremain, Mitch Swepson, Josh Hazlewood, Tom Andrews, Jackson Bird.

David Warner XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Hilton Cartwright, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Agar, Jake Weatherald, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Jon Holland.

Australia have regularly played intra-squad matches to prepare for Test series' – they did so in Dubai in February ahead of their tour of India – but the nature of this contest is set to more closely resemble match conditions, with players wearing whites and two full XIs taking part under the leadership of usual captain Smith and his deputy, Warner.

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Darren Lehmann's squad arrived in the Northern Territory on Wednesday and have been working hard on conditioning their bodies to the heat of Bangladesh, though the humidity will be another factor to take in once they land in Dhaka next Friday as Darwin is currently in the middle of its dry season.

"We've been doing a lot of fitness and strength testing since we've been here," Queensland leg-spinner Mitch Swepson said on Saturday.

"It's going to be good for the boys to acclimatise before we get to Bangladesh – it'll be humid and hot over there. It's great that we've got a base in Australia with weather like this where we can come and acclimatise."

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The South Australian contingent was scheduled to arrive in Darwin late Saturday, completing a 23-man group ahead of the intra-squad fixture.

The injured Mitchell Starc, who is still recovering from a foot injury and will not tour Bangladesh, is the only player present who won't play on Monday, while part-time 'keeper Peter Handscomb looms as the likely gloveman for the Warner XI.

Image Id: 02073D0C940940A08D09FBC7F28DCDAA Image Caption: Mitchell Swepson and Mitchell Starc in Darwin on Saturday // cricket.com.au

The arrival of left-arm orthodox spinners Andrews and Holland as well as leggie Zampa brings the number of spinners in the group to six (Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar and Swepson will tour Bangladesh), as the Australians ready themselves for spin-friendly conditions for the Tests in Dhaka and Chittagong.

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"It's good to have plenty of spinners here to feed off," Swepson said.

"We had four or five spinners in India to work with and it'll be good again here to have plenty of spinners this week, just picking each other's brains and getting a lot of work done together.

"I've heard from a couple of locals that the decks up here are pretty spin friendly. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they're like and hopefully I can work on some plans that I want to put in place for Bangladesh."

For news, highlights and live updates from Australia's training camp in Darwin, stay with cricket.com.au

Teams for Australia's intra-squad practice match

Steve Smith XI: Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Tremain, Mitch Swepson, Josh Hazlewood, Tom Andrews, Jackson Bird.

David Warner XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Hilton Cartwright, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Agar, Jake Weatherald, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Jon Holland.

Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.

Bangladesh squad (preliminary): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Kumar Das, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subhashish Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sanjamul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mohammad Saifuddin, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan Raju, Al Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Muktar Ali, Tanbir Haider, Saqlain Sajib, Shafiul Islam.


11-17 August Australia pre-tour training camp, Darwin


18 August Australia arrive


22-23 August Tour match,Fatullah


27-31 August First Test, Dhaka


4-8 September Second Test, Chittagong