All-Australian tour match not a Test shootout: Paine

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This was published 4 years ago

All-Australian tour match not a Test shootout: Paine

By Steve Larkin

Captain Tim Paine knows his potential first Test team, saying next week's all-Australian tour game won't purely be an Ashes selection shootout.

A squad of 25 will play against each other in Southampton next week ahead of the naming of a 16-man party for the Test series against England starting on August 1.

Test captain Tim Paine says he's pretty clear on the side that will face England.

Test captain Tim Paine says he's pretty clear on the side that will face England.Credit: AAP

"I don't think the game in Southampton is going to be an out-and-out trial game and everyone is on red alert," Paine said after a drawn tour game against an England Lions team.

"We know obviously the players that we have got in the squad, we know potentially what the make up of our team looks like.

"But we want to make sure we have got all bases covered.

"And next week is another opportunity just to make sure that we have got a squad that ticks all boxes for all conditions."

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The four-day fixture will feature the 15 Australians in England with the red-ball squad, seven who played in the World Cup and three - Peter Siddle, Cameron Bancroft and Marnus Labuschagne - who have been playing English county cricket.

"We think it's going to be really intense, that's what we're after ... we expect it to be of extremely high competitive intensity," Paine said.

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Matthew Wade is expected to play in the game despite being sent to hospital for scans after being struck on his right elbow while batting in Australia's drawn tour game against the Lions.

Scans showed no structural damage.

"Wadey is OK ... he copped a bit of a nasty one but he's a tough bugger and he will be fine," Paine said.

England will play Ireland in a Test match next week in a tune-up for the Ashes.

Their World Cup-winning paceman Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have been ruled out of the first Ashes Test, and likely longer, because of side strains.

Paine said he was unfazed by the injuries to the English fast bowlers.

"It doesn't bother me one way or another," he said. "We're here to play against England's best team and our best cricket is going to be required to win this series.

"Who they have got playing against us, in a sense, is a bit irrelevant.

"We know their best team is going to be very, very good and we're gong to have to be at our best to beat them."

AAP

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