Batsman's paradise in Bris

A batting paradise is set to greet Australia A and India A at Allan Border Field on Sunday in the first of two four-day matches being held at the picturesque Brisbane venue.

With sunny skies forecast throughout the match, the combination of short boundaries and a fast outfield are likely to make life difficult for the bowlers on both sides.

Australia A skipper James Faulkner remained tight-lipped about the make-up of the team XI, with a final decision to be announced at the toss of the coin.

“We’ll just wait and have a look in the morning, but I’m sure whoever takes the field is going to do a good job,” Faulkner told cricket.com.au following training.

Fellow allrounder Moises Henriques was more revealing however, suggesting that the home side will enter the clash with just two fast bowlers and plenty of batting power at their disposal.

“It takes the load off everyone’s bowling a little bit, getting to spread it across three allrounders,” Henriques told cricket.com.au on Saturday.

“But having said that, we do only have the two quicks so we’ll all get a fair opportunity throughout the games.”

The New South Welshman was quick to dismiss any suggestion of the series being used as somewhat of a selection trial between the three quality allrounders, including Faulkner and WA’s Mitchell Marsh.

“I’m hoping to get a few wins up for the boys and hopefully after you get your wins, then usually those performances seem to roll on,” Henriques said.

“As long as all the boys are concentrated and focused on getting the wins up, I think we’ll have a fair share of success individually throughout that.

“I think all the boys deserve to be there and I’m just looking forward to playing with them.”

Alex Doolan (back stiffness) and Phil Hughes (illness) both trained well in the side’s final net session and appear certain starters for the tour opener, with late call-up Callum Ferguson likely to miss out.

For Faulkner, the match represents his first taste of red-ball cricket since November of last year and says it remains to be seen how difficult the transition back to the longer format will be.

“I suppose we’ll find out over the coming weeks. Hopefully there are a lot of runs and a couple of wickets, but I’ll just prepare as well as I possibly can,” said the skipper.

“I think the whole team is really excited. We spoke yesterday and we’ve all be given an opportunity that I’m sure a lot of people back home in our own states would love to be in at the moment.”

“I’m expecting some big performances from the group and some very tough cricket played over the next five weeks.”

While India’s Test squad prepares for the much-anticipated five-Test series against England, the Aussies are expecting to come up against a talented ‘A’ outfit.

“I think they’ve got a very good squad, a good mixture of youth and experience,” said Faulkner.

“They’ve got all areas covered, they’ve got pace and they’ve got some very good spin so it’s going to be a tough contest and I think everyone is really looking forward to it.”

Following Saturday’s training session, Faulkner and Henriques joined Pat Cummins (a member of the Australia A limited overs squad) in leading a skills clinic with a group of Indigenous children from the Cherbourg community in Queensland.

The event helped mark Cricket Australia’s announcement that it will be joining the Recognise campaign, a movement to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Constitution.