Cameron Bancroft is unavailable through injury after fracturing his shoulder in the BBL. Veteran two-Test seamer Michael Neser, who injured his hamstring in the Australia A game at the MCG has also not been selected.
Ward, 26, played four matches for Australia A against New Zealand A in 2023 and made three half-centuries in eight innings but was dropped by Tasmania last last season. However he has bounced back strongly with scores of 51, 92, 96, 7 and 142 since being recalled by Tasmania in November.
Goodwin, 23, is currently playing in the CA XI alongside Ward and is highly regarded by the nationals selectors despite only averaging 32.38 across 27 first-class innings. But he made scores of 94, 139 and 69 in Shield cricket in November with the latter two coming against South Australia in a pink-ball game which featured Doggett and Australian white-ball pacer Spencer Johnson.
Hardie is the only member of the Australia A squad who is also in Australia’s Champions Trophy squad. He has not been bowling recently due to an ongoing quad issue and has only played one first-class match this summer after a lean season with the bat last year in red-ball cricket. But he has scored a century for Australia A previously in New Zealand in 2023.
Sutherland, 25, is the only full-time Shield captain in the squad but Edwards captained NSW in three Shield games prior to the BBL break, standing in for the absent Moises Henriques, and is NSW’s permanent 50-over captain. It will be the first time Edwards has represented Australia A, having played all 37 of his first-class matches for NSW, averaging 28.21 with the bat and 26.69 with the ball.
Australia A squad: Jack Edwards (c), Xavier Bartlett, Brendan Doggett, Jordan Buckingham, Jayden Goodwin, Aaron Hardie, Fergus O’Neill, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe (wk), Corey Rocchiccioli , Will Sutherland, Tim Ward
