Get ready for Top End cricket

The Northern Territory will get a taste of international cricket with the Australia A Tour arriving in Darwin for the one-day quad-series.

Starting Sunday, Australia A, India A, South Africa A and CA’s National Performance Squad will compete in a two-week tournament with the final set to take place at Marrara Oval on 2 August.

With Australia and New Zealand set to host the ICC Cricket World Cup early next year, the one-day quad-series will provide players with the opportunity to put their hands up for selection in the showpiece event.

Wondering how you can follow all the action? Here’s everything you need to know about the NT leg of the six-week tour:

When and where?

It all begins Sunday July 20 with Australia A taking on India A at Marrara Oval and the National Performance Squad going up against South Africa A at Northline Oval, Palmerston.

Gardens Oval will also play host to a number of matches, starting with India A v South Africa A on 22 July.

Play is scheduled to commence at 10:00am local time each day, with the toss of the coin taking place at 9:30am.

Quick Single: Full ‘A’ tour schedule

How much will it cost to get in?

Tickets for each match will cost $10 for adults, $5 for concession, while children 15 years and under get in free of charge. Tickets can be purchased at the gate, cash only.

How can I follow it if I can’t get to the ground?

Unfortunately there’s no live streaming for the one-day quad series, but you’ll be able to follow along with live scores of every match involving Australia A online or via Cricket Australia Live: The Official App.

Cricket.com.au will also have reports and video from each Australia A match throughout the series, as well as the latest news before and after each clash.

You can also stay up-to-date with all the action on social media using the hashtag #AusATour:

Twitter:

Follow: @CricketAus here 

Follow: @NTCricket here

Facebook:

Like: Cricket Australia here 

Like: NT Cricket here

Instagram:

Follow: @cricketcomau here 

Follow: @ntcricket here 

Soundcloud:

Subscribe Free: Cricket Australia here 

Who’s playing?

Australia A squad: Cameron Boyce, Pat Cummins, Ben Cutting, Alex Doolan, Callum Ferguson, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Clint McKay, Peter Nevill, Kane Richardson, Cameron White (c).

India A squad: Robin Uthappa (c), Unmukt Chand, Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Sharma, Karn Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Manan Vohra, Jaidev Unadkat.

South Africa A squad: Justin Ontong (c), Farhaan Behardien, Cody Chetty, Marchant de Lange, Simon Harmer, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Mthokozisi Shezi, Vaughn van Jaarsveld.

National Performance Squad: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Tom Andrews, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Gregory, Travis Head, Alex Keath, Simon Mackin, James Muirhead, Sam Rainbird, Gurinder Sandhu, Matthew Short, Jordan Silk, Kelvin Smith, Mark Steketee, Ashton Turner, Sean Willis.

Who’s in charge?

The field umpires for the series will include Paul Wilson, John Ward, Simon Fry, Sam Nogajski, Mick Martell and Gerard Abood, while Stephen Bernard, Peter Marshall, Bob Stratford and David Talalla will be the men in charge as Match Referees.

How’s the weather looking?

It’s Darwin, so you can just about guarantee it’s going to be hot each and every day.

Quick Single: Bureau of Meteorology forecast

What do the players think?

“I think over the last eight days of cricket we’ve shown some positive signs through periods of the game, but we probably haven’t been consistent all the way through so that’s something that we’ll be working on as a team going forward,” South Australian opener Phil Hughes.

“My mindset won’t change too much, I’ll look to hit the middle of the bat and put some scores together,” Tasmanian batsman Alex Doolan.