McGrath to turbo-charge Jhye's Ashes bid

Australia quick Jhye Richardson's path to the Ashes will now see him work with Glenn McGrath in Chennai after the right-armer was added to the National Performance Squad.

Richardson's latest step in his rehabilitation from a dislocated shoulder will see him spend 18 days working with the Australian Test legend at the MRF Pace Foundation in the southern Indian city.

The camp runs from August 10 to 28 and, should his return to full fitness and match-readiness continue, that timeframe leaves the door ajar for Richardson to link up with the Ashes squad between the third and fourth Tests.

Australia will play a three-day tour match against county side Derbyshire from August 29 before the fourth Test at Old Trafford gets underway on September 4.

Richardson injured his shoulder fielding in an ODI against Pakistan in Sharjah in March and was initially named in Australia's World Cup squad but withdrawn soon after as it became clear he wouldn't be ready for the tournament.

He made his comeback to competitive cricket in Darwin's Premier Cricket 50-over competition in late July and has joined the Chris Rogers-coached NPS squad in Brisbane before they head to Chennai this weekend.

Richardson is in line to play three one-day games and three Twenty20 matches against MRF academy teams as well as the training sessions under McGrath's tutelage.

Cricket Australia physiotherapist Kevin Sims said Richardson was “ready to bowl in matches”.

"He is bowling off his full run and has good shoulder function," Sims said.

"The plan is for him to play matches in both formats while on tour and we expect he will be able to bowl however many overs are required."

Should he be required by the Ashes party that includes Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle, Richardson would join the tour with only white-ball cricket under his belt.

Ahead of his Darwin comeback, Richardson said his plan was to increase his bowling ahead of a possible Ashes call-up.

"The plan is to get over to England for the Ashes and this is sort of the first step in seeing how I go," Richardson was quoted as saying in the NT News.

"The plan moving forward is to get up for the back end of the series.

"And with a five-game stint pretty testing on fast bowlers, just to be available for the back end will be quite important."

Richardson made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at the Gabba in January and was a regular member of the ODI side before suffering the injury blow, and has been bowling off his full run up since the second week of July.

"I'll definitely be bowling as quickly as I can," Richardson said. "This is quite an important step in getting back to play, so I'll be trying my heart out to prove to myself and my own confidence that my shoulder is going OK.

"And give a little faith to everyone else that everything is going pretty well and the shoulder feels good.

"Obviously the last thing to come back is throwing."

Regardless of whether his Ashes dream pans out, the experience in Indian conditions will be valuable to Richardson, and the host of other rising talent in the NPS squad.

Also included are KFC Big Bash League batting young guns Ben McDermott and Josh Philippe, as well as promising leg-spinners Lloyd Pope and Dan Fallins as well as WA allrounder Cameron Green.

A host of Australian Under-19 players that featured in a recent series against the NZ U19 team in Queensland are also involved.

National Performance Squad: Tom Andrews (SA), Oliver Davies (NSW), Dan Fallins (NSW), Jake Fraser-McGurk (Vic), Cameron Green (WA), Ryan Hadley (NSW), Lachlan Hearne (NSW), Josh Inglis (WA), Ben McDermott (Tas), Jonathon Merlo (Vic), Todd Murphy (Vic), Josh Philippe (WA), Lloyd Pope (SA), Jhye Richardson (WA).

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia beat England by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Tour match: Australians v Worcestershire, August 7-9

Second Test: August 14-18,Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval