It was only last month that England successfully retained the Ashes in the 2013 Ashes Cricket Series. England recently announced the squad, which includes three new players, that will tour Australia for the 2013-14 series that begins in November.
Gary Balance, Ben Stokes and Boyd Rankin have been named as new caps to be included in the squad to defend the Ashes in Australia.
Ashes Series 2013-14:
• Thursday Nov 21–25, 2013, Gabba
• Thursday Dec 5–9, 2013, Adelaide Oval
• Friday Dec 13–17, 2013, WACA Ground
• Thursday Dec 26–30, 2013, MCG
• Friday Jan 3–7, 2014, SCG
England squad: Alastair Cook (Essex, captain), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Kevin Pietersen (Surrey), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex, vice-captain), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Monty Panesar (Sussex, on loan at Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Chris Tremlett (Surrey).
HK Squad for Australian tour
The Hong Kong Cricket Association has announced a squad of 15 players to take part in a tour to Australia in October to help the players prepare for the upcoming ICC World Cup Qualifying events.
With the qualifying events to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November and in New Zealand in January 2014, the tour to Australia is ideal preparation.
“To have the opportunity to play against quality opposition on a similar surface and ground dimensions to what we will face at the ICC tournaments will go a long way to ensuring the team is as well prepared as possible for those two huge events,” said national coach, Charlie Burke.
The tour matches will be played from Oct 8 to 15 against a variety of teams to be assembled by Cricket NSW (New South Wales).
The Hong Kong national cricket squad tour schedule:
• Tuesday Oct 8—Training
• Wednesday Oct 9—vs NSW U19 (50 overs)
• Thursday Oct 10—Academy XI (50 overs)
• Friday Oct 11—vs NSW 2nd XI (T20)
• Saturday Oct 12—Rest day
• Sunday Oct 13—Training and attending the NSW vs QLD Ryobi Cup game at North Sydney Oval
• Monday Oct 14—vs NSW Development team, two T20 matches
• Tuesday Oct 15—vs NSW Development team, one T20 match
Hong Kong captain Jamie Atkinson, who will lead the team, has been playing cricket in England and has just been invited to play for Warwickshire as stand-in wicket keeper. This is a great opportunity for him to get a better understanding of the workings of professional cricket in England, which should help in the development of the Hong Kong game.
The 15-man Hong Kong squad: James Atkinson (Captain) (WK), Waqas Barkat (Vice Captain), Tanwir Afzal, Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed, Skhawat Ali, Hasseb Amjad, Mark Chapman (unavailable for tour), Moner Ahmed, Babar Hayat, Mudassar Hussain, Aizaz Khan, Nizakat Khan, Roy Lamsam and Adil Mehmood.
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