Agencies
Townsville
At the start of May, Australia had announced that their A side and National Performance Squad (NPS) would play a quadrangular one-day series against South Africa A and another international team.
Cricket Australia has now confirmed that the fourth team would be India A. Townsville will host the first six matches of the series; the remaining six and the two finals will be played in Mackay.
India A are also set to play two four-day matches against the hosts in Brisbane in September. Australia A and South Africa A play a couple of four-day matches as well in July-August.
"This is an important series for developing and growing the depth of talent in our pathways," Australia's team performance manager Pat Howard said. "Players in the Australia A and National Performance Squad have been identified as having the potential to play for their country and the national selectors will be watching this series with interest."
Pat Cummins is expected to make a comeback to competitive cricket after injury, during the limited-overs leg, while several emerging batsmen like Matt Renshaw, Sam Heazlett, Alex Ross, Travis Dean, Kurtis Patterson and Jake Lehmann, the son of national coach Darren Lehmann, have also been called up to the 24-man squad.
The A sides from Australia and South Africa A had been in India to play two unofficial Tests each and a 50-over triangular series in July-August 2015. Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns produced standout performances on that tour and have since had success in international cricket as well.
Australia A won one of the four-day matches while the other was drawn. They made the final of the one-day tri-series but lost to India A. The South African side was unable to win any of their six matches on the tour. Several of their squad members had been affected by food poisoning, which had contributed to the slump.
Quadrangular schedule
Aug 13 South Africa A v NPS
Aug 14 Australia A v India A
Aug 16 Australia A v NPS
Aug 17 South Africa A v India A
Aug 20 Australia A v South Africa A
Aug 21 India A v NPS
Aug 24 NPS v Australia A
Aug 25 South Africa A v India A
Aug 27 NPS v India A
Aug 28 Australia A v South Africa A
Aug 30 Australia A v India A
Aug 31 South Africa A v NPS
Sept 3 Final 3 v 4
Sept 4 Final 1 v 2
Four-day matches schedule
July 30 to August 2: Australia A v South Africa A, Brisbane
August 6 to 9: Australia A v South Africa A, Townsville
September 8 to 11: Australia A v India A, Brisbane
September 15 to 18: Australia A v India A, Brisbane
