Marsh returns to launch Australia A tour

Hard-hitting allrounder Mitchell Marsh will headline a strong Australia A side in the opening match of their six-week campaign in England against Northampton on Thursday night (AEST).

Marsh spent his first week in the UK with Australia's World Cup squad as cover for fellow allrounder Marcus Stoinis, who has seemingly recovered from the side injury he suffered in the loss to India at The Oval on June 9.

Marsh returned from Nottingham on Tuesday evening with left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, who also trained with Aaron Finch's men to help the reigning World Cup champions prepare for Bangladesh's ace spin-bowling allrounder Shakib al-Hasan. 

The pair are set to line-up against Northamptonshire for the day-night clash that starts at 10pm AEST, much to the delight of Australia A captain Travis Head.  

"Both of them are going really well. Mitch is flying and so is Agar," Head told cricket.com.au on Wednesday.  

"It's nice to see them showcase their skill and go show they're still there around the (national) mark.

"Both enjoyed it, both went really well and it's nice to have them back." 

Australia A will wait until the toss to name their final XI, with pace spearhead James Pattinson the only squad member unavailable as he concludes his County Championship commitments with Nottinghamshire. 

Fast bowler Andrew Tye, who was drafted in to replace Kane Richardson following the South Australian's elevation to the World Cup squad, is the likely player to miss out on Thursday.

Head confirmed on Tuesday that Hobart Hurricanes dynamic duo Matthew Wade and D'Arcy Short will open the batting, with youngster Will Pucovski set to occupy a spot in the top seven. 

Pucovski was part of Australia's Test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka earlier this year and amassed 649 Sheffield Shield runs at 54.08 for Victoria last summer.

His average of 7.50 in four List A matches belies his prodigious talent, and Head is keen for the rookie to showcase his abilities as he pushes for an Ashes berth.  

"Will's been great, it's great reward for him for the summer," Head said.

"We've seen him in the Test (squad), he's just been playing really good cricket so it's nice to see him get an opportunity and he'll play a great role for us in the next five games.  

"I'm excited to see him play. I've only played the one game against him this year (in Adelaide where Pucovski made 82 in the first innings) and we didn't look like getting him out. He's a young, great talent.”

The bowling attack will be led by vice-captain Josh Hazlewood, the paceman who teammate Kurtis Patterson expects to "explode" in this series after missing out on Australia’s World Cup squad.

Thursday's 50-over clash will be the 28-year-old's first match since he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture following the New Year's Test against India in January. 

Armed with a new white Kookaburra ball, Hazlewood and his fellow fast bowlers have found swing under overcast skies at training in Northampton this week and look set to be a handful over the five-match campaign.

"If you can get it in the right area here and the conditions are suiting, the ball will swing around," said Head.   

"The bowlers complement each other really well and they are going to be quite difficult for the batters over the next couple of weeks." 

The match starts at 1pm BST (10pm AEST) and will be live streamed at nccc.co.uk/stream or northantscricket.com/stream, with live scores on cricket.com.au and the CA Live App.  

Australia A XII: Matt Wade, D'Arcy Short, Travis Head, Travis Head (c), Peter Handscomb (wk), Mitch Marsh (vc), Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, Sean Abbott, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Andrew Tye

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