'Fearless': Short goes long to open A tour

If there were any cobwebs in D'Arcy Short's game upon arriving in England, they were well and truly blown away in a whirlwind net session on Monday at Loughborough University.

Facing throwdowns from assistant coach Shane McDermott, Short crunched shot after shot to leave his Australia A teammates in awe of the clean striking.

Teammate Kurtis Patterson was batting in the adjacent net as Short cut loose and said he’s glad he'll be on the same side for Thursday's opening A match in Northampton.

"Watching him bat at the moment, he's hitting the ball a long way," Patterson told cricket.com.au on Monday. "He's going to be really exciting to watch.

"He's got a beautiful swing. I was certainly picking his brain up in Brisbane (at the pre-tour camp), we were doing some swing hitting, which was good fun.

"He's just a pure striker of the ball, isn't he? I love the way he approaches his net sessions and approaches his training.

"He's fearless in it and it certainly carries out in the game. I'm really looking forward to being on his side this time."

Short is set to open in Thursday's match against Northamptonshire and could be joined by Hobart Hurricanes teammate Matthew Wade at the top of the order.

Opening the batting together for the Hurricanes last summer, the pair were BBL|08's two leading run-scorers (Short with 602 runs, Wade 590) and combined for two century stands, including an unbeaten 158 against Adelaide.

Wade joined the touring squad on Monday, having arrived late due to the birth of his second child. 

The A squad had the first hit out of their six-week campaign on Monday with nine players, including Test captain Tim Paine, having a light run in the sunshine before Tuesday's first major training session in Northampton.

Absent from practice were Wade, Sean Abbott (ill), Mitch Marsh (Australia duties) and paceman James Pattinson, who claimed 6-73 from 21 overs in his final four-day game with Nottinghamshire before he links up with the squad at the end of the week.

Patterson says while there will be a lot at stake on a personal level during the A tour given an Ashes series on the horizon, the group is focused solely on winning each of the five one-day matches and the three four-day games that follow.

"It's a really good bunch of guys, we've all played together for one or two Australia A series now, so the group is gelling really together" Patterson said.

"We're moving in the right direction to play some good cricket."

Australia A tour of the UK

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A v Northamptonshire, The County Ground, Northamptonshire

June 23: Australia A v Derbyshire, County Ground, Derby

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, New Road, Worcester

June 30: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

July 2: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Ageas Bowl, Hampshire