Neser given England focus to push for Test recall

Australia's selectors have indicated Michael Neser's best shot at a Test recall will likely come in England next year after both he and recent Ashes star Jhye Richardson were left out of the Test squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

The Queensland quick, who was picked in the squad for the recent Pakistan tour before being ruled out due to a side strain, also wasn't selected for a 16-player Australia A tour of Sri Lanka that will run concurrently with limited-overs leg of the main tour, with selectors instead opting to leave him in the UK where he is playing county cricket with Glamorgan alongside Marnus Labuschagne.

Neser made his long-awaited Test debut in Adelaide during last summer's 4-0 Ashes series win, collecting match figures of 2-61 before outstanding performances by Scott Boland and Richardson seemingly bumped him down the pecking order.

But with Australia’s Ashes defence looming next year, Neser remains firmly on the radar of selectors and he will remain with Glamorgan instead of being a bench player for a spin-focused campaign in Sri Lanka.

"Where Ness (Neser is) at the moment, he's actually in the right place," chief selector George Bailey said after announcing four separate squads to tour Sri Lanka in June-July.

"We see his skillset as being really well suited to English conditions as opposed to probably not as much at the moment in subcontinent conditions, where we found in Pakistan that little bit of extra airspeed can be quite crucial.

"We've been really clear to him on this; we've now got smaller squads, so we're not carrying those extra players, which is great because it means he gets to continue playing (for Glamorgan) and putting performances up over there."

The indication is that barring injury to Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Boland, Neser will also be unlikely to feature on Australia's next Test tour post-Sri Lanka, which is a four-match series in India early next year.

He could also come back into calculations for Tests against West Indies and South Africa this home summer.

The 32-year-old right-armer has made a solid start to his second consecutive English season with eight wickets at 24.75 in three matches for Glamorgan, including 2-50 overnight on day one of the Welsh county's clash with Derbyshire.

Richardson, meanwhile, has been named in Australia's T20 squad for the three-match series to begin the Sri Lanka tour, which, if selected in the final XI, would mark his first game back since his latest injury setback.

The 25-year-old pace ace hurt his left hamstring during Western Australia's Marsh Cup triumph in early March, which ruled him out of their drought-breaking Sheffield Shield title a month later.

The right-armer was expected to be fully fit again by the end of April and was targeting the Sri Lankan tour as an opportunity to return to competitive cricket, with selectors opting to include him in the A squad to gain valuable match time following the T20 series.

"It's great to see him back around the T20 group and much like a number of players, it's just about being in the right place," Bailey said.

"He's had a bit of a wretched run of injuries so just getting back and playing some really consistent cricket again, so some T20 and Australia A cricket for him, and (he's) in the right place if we do need to call upon someone (for the Test series)."

Another player unlucky not to be included in the main Australia squads was Matthew Renshaw, who hit a superb century for Somerset overnight, which follows an outstanding summer that earned him the Marsh Cup Player of the Year award.

The left-hander's county stint will be cut short by the A tour, which features two one-day matches in Colombo on June 8 and 10 and two four-day games in Hambantota from June 14.

Josh Philippe also looks unlikely to make his county stint with Sussex after being included in the A squad, while Victoria opener Will Pucovski was a notable omission from the Sri Lanka tour following his return to first-class cricket at the back end of the Shield season.

"The focus for the Aussie A (squad) was the guys that have been performing really consistently across this year and the past, so (with) Puc it's more about just getting some more game time in," Bailey said.

"I was pleased he got back for the end of the Shield season, that's a really promising sign for him and (we're) excited about him building on that next year (and) getting some consistency of performance through playing.

"For (Renshaw), like any batter, it's about scoring a mountain of runs and then if the opportunity arises, he's probably got a nice little advantage at the moment that he's got that flexibility in his game … he can fit anywhere (in the order)."

White-ball dasher Ben McDermott was also stiff to miss out on the limited-overs squads after impressing with his maiden international century in Pakistan, with Bailey explaining he was squeezed out by the returns of David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Mitch Marsh, who all perform similar roles in those sides.

McDermott will instead play T20 cricket for Hampshire Hawks in the UK during the winter.

Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka, 2022

T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner, Matthew Wade

June 7: First T20, Colombo

June 8: Second T20, Colombo

June 11: Third T20, Kandy

ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

June 14: First ODI, Kandy

June 16: Second ODI, Kandy

June 19: Third ODI, Colombo

June 21: Fourth ODI, Colombo

June 24: Fifth ODI, Colombo

Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

June 29 - July 3: First Test, Galle

July 8-12: Second Test, Galle

Australia A fixtures

Squad: Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Pete Handscomb, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Henry Hunt, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nic Maddinson, Todd Murphy, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Tanveer Sangha, Mark Steketee

June 8: First one-day game, Colombo

June 10: Second one-day game, Colombo

June 14-17: first-class tour match, Hambantota

June 21-24: first-class tour match, Hambantota