Canberra, Dec 14: Cricket Australia today announced details of an Australian Batting Group Camp that will take place in the lead up to the Australian squad assembling in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test match against India.
After a rather forgettable performance against New Zealand in the just-concluded series, the Australian batsmen will undergo a preparatory camp for the series against the visiting Indian side.
CA’s General Manager, Team Performance, Pat Howard, confirmed on the official website that five members of the Australian team that contested the second Test against New Zealand earlier this week, Dan Christian (12th man for Hobart) and Shaun Marsh (fitness permitting), will meet in Melbourne from 20-22 December to fine-tune preparations ahead of Boxing Day Test.
Pat Howard was quoted by the website as saying, “Cricket Australia has put together a batting camp to best support our batsmen’s preparation for the Vodafone Test series against India.
“Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Shaun Marsh, Mike Hussey, Dan Christian and Brad Haddin will all attend the camp. The camp is designed to complement rather than duplicate the preparation of those batsmen playing in the Chairman’s XI in Canberra, which includes David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Ed Cowan,” he elaborated.
“This camp has been scheduled prior to the Australian Test squad being announced and then coming together on 22 December. We continue to monitor Shaun Marsh and are hopeful he will be available for this camp.”
The National Selection Panel is scheduled to select the Australia squad shortly before it comes together on 22 December, the website announced.
Cricket Australia has confirmed that Phillip Hughes has been granted permission to withdraw from his KFC T20 Big Bash League contract this year to focus on the development of his long-form cricket skills.
