Clarkson, Kelly included in NZ A squad to play Australia

New Zealand Cricket has announced the NZ A side that will face Australia A starting next week in Brisbane.

Seven players in the side have made appearances in Blackcaps squads: fAdi Tom Bruce, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ajaz Patel, and Tim Seifert. Foxcroft and Ashok recently made their debut against the UAE.

“From our perspective, it’s great to have a mix of current and recent BLACKCAPS joining us along with the next tier of talent who have been rewarded for their performances on the domestic scene.” NZ A coach, Brendon Donkers stated.

There is a good balance of domestic talent with players such as Leo Carter, Henry Cooper, Cam Fletcher, Nick Kelly, Michael Rae, Brett Randell and Sean Solia all included after strong performances over the last few years for their representative sides.

Muhammad Abbas is retained in the side from the last NZ A series against Australia, after strong performances for Wellington over the latter end of the summer. Abbas scored 453 runs across nine innings, with a high score of 130.

After recently making their debuts against the UAE, Ashok and Foxcroft are included. The pair will join the side for the second first-class match after the conclusion of the warm-up matches against England. Seifert will also join the side for the final two one-day matches.

Abbas, Cooper and Patel will only be appearing in the first-class games with Rae and Seifert only playing the one-day games.

Leo Carter is in line to make his NZ A debut after having strong performances in the Dream 11 Super Smash and The Ford Trophy. In these competitions, he averaged 47.16 in the List A format, and 50.83 in the T20 format. Josh Clarkson is another player in line to make his NZ A debut, after leading the Central Stags to victory in the Ford Trophy Final in Napier where he made 111*. He was able to back that up the same week, by making 79 in the Stag's final First Class game to help lead them to victory.

Nick Kelly and Brett Randell are the other players in line to make their NZ A debut following strong summers for their domestic sides. Randell took 20 first-class wickets, 18 list A wickets, and 8 T20 wickets last summer having made the move down to Central Districts. Kelly made the move to Wellington last summer and scored two first-class centuries for them over the eight games he featured in. He also averaged 38.12 in the list A format.

Northern Districts batter Joe Carter made himself unavailable as he continues his rehabilitation from hip surgery.

NZ A side to play Australia A: Muhammad Abbas Adi Ashok

Tom Bruce (C)

Leo Carter

Josh Clarkson Henry Cooper

Jacob Duffy

Cam Fletcher

Dean Foxcroft

Mitch Hay

Nick Kelly

Scott Kuggeleijn

Will O’Rourke

Ajaz Patel

Michael Rae

Brett Randell

Tim Seifert

Sean Solia