Davies to lead U19 Aussies against touring England

NSW Metro captain Joel Davies headlines Australia's U19 squad for their upcoming series against England, while World Cup representatives Will Salzman and Harkirat Bajwa will get the chance to don the green and gold again.  

Fifteen of the country's best juniors are set to take on England in a multi-format series that begins in late January with the first of two four-day games at Allan Border Oval, before three ODIs and one T20I.

Davies, the younger brother of emerging Sydney Thunder star Ollie, was named Player of the Tournament at the U19 National Championships in Adelaide over the past week after a stellar campaign with both bat and ball.

The left-hander smashed a remarkable 458 runs at an average of 114.5 in his six games, while he also snared eight wickets to lead his side to the title. 

He is joined by five of his teammates in the Aussie squad, including Salzmann, as well as fellow top-order batters Ethan Jamieson and Harjas Singh, and fast-bowling duo Charlie Anderson and Tom Straker. 

Queensland Metro and Western Australia both have three representatives each, with Teague Wyllie not considered for selection given his Marsh Sheffield Shield duties, while Victorians Liam Blackford and Bajwa (Vic Country) and star batter Harry Dixon (Vic Metro) round out the squad.

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Australia Male Under 19 Squad: Harry Dixon (VIC Metro/St Kilda Cricket Club), Liam Blackford (VIC Country/Geelong Cricket Club),  Ethan Jamieson (NSW Metro/University of NSW Cricket Club), Harjas Singh (NSW Metro/Blacktown Mounties Cricket Club), Joel Davies (NSW Metro/Manly Warringah Cricket Club), Hugh Weibgen (QLD Metro/Valley District Cricket Club), Lachlan Aitken (QLD Metro/Gold Coast District Cricket Club), William Salzmann (NSW Metro/Campbelltown Camden District Cricket Club), Tom Balkin (QLD Metro/Toombul District Cricket Club), Mahli Beardman (Western Australia/Melville Cricket Club),  Josh Vernon (Western Australia/Pegs Creek Cricket Club), Charlie Anderson (NSW Metro/Northern District Cricket Club), Tom Straker (NSW Metro/Sutherland District Cricket Club), Luke Holt (Western Australia/Willetton District Cricket Club), Harkirat Bajwa (VIC Country/Melbourne Cricket Club)

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Australia Under 19 coach Anthony Clark, who also mentored the Metro Blues side to victory at Karen Rolton Oval on Thursday, said he was pleased with the balance of the squad for all three formats.

"I think the best guys can play all the formats and I think we've probably picked the players that have performed the best across all the cricket that they've played in the last 12 months," he said. 

"It's a good mix of under 18 players and under 19 players and obviously players that performed really well at the carnival, but also some players we've had an eye on for a while. 

"The big thing really is we don't really know how they play four-day cricket because none of them ever played it before.

"So that's the exciting thing about having those two (four-day) games, it's exposing some young guys to a form of cricket that they haven't had before and giving them that experience."

Vic Country top-order batter Blackford is one player who does have experience in the longer format of the game, with the wicketkeeper from Geelong having played two second XI matches for his state earlier this season.

While Blackford didn't have a standout tournament – averaging just over 30 in his six innings – Clark said it is his body of work over a long period that will see the left-hander become a key cog in the Aussie line-up.

"Blackford's Second XI performances have been something (we've looked at), he scored a 90 against a very strong Queensland side not long ago," he said. 

"I know that he played for the (Melbourne) Stars in the tropic series in Darwin in the off-season and he's someone that we've seen over a period of time.

"He was fairly close to making the last World Cup as well, so he's someone we've known about for a while." 

Clark said Davies, who plays for Manly Warringah in Sydney premier cricket, was quite a different player to his brother and expected him to be a strong leader in the series against England.

"I think they're very different players, obviously Ollie's right-handed and Joel's left-handed and Ollie has probably got a little bit more of a power game," he said.

They manipulate the ball differently – Joel's electric between the wickets, his running is fantastic. 

"They're very different, but at the same time both pretty dynamic."

Fast-bowling duos from both NSW (Anderson and Straker) and WA (Mahli Beardman and Josh Vernon) will provide the spark for the Aussies in the series to be played entirely in Brisbane, with Clark excited about the pace and bounce the pair from the west especially can extract.

Clark was also hoping the unit of quicks would be supported by Salzmann, who was Australia's top wicket-taker at the Under 19 World Cup earlier this year but didn’t bowl in the recent championships due to injury.

"A lot of data gets taken around the fast bowlers – from ball speed, to accuracy, (to) plays and misses," he said.

"All that sort of stuff gets taken throughout the tournament and they're the guys that have been talked up a lot by their states, particularly the two boys from WA, who were highly impressive when we were at the national camp.

"We've also selected Will and the medical staff think there's a chance that he will be able to bowl (against England), so we thought we'd pick him, especially given his experience playing at a World Cup."

It was the slow bowlers that dominated the Championships however, accounting for five of the top six wicket takers. Clark said for this reason it was difficult to narrow down the options they wanted to go with, eventually settling on Bajwa and WA leggie Luke Holt, however he indicated they had a surplus of batting allrounders who were tweakers such as Davies and Jamieson. 

"We picked two out-and-out spinners … but I think that's where the meetings that you have with the states leading in and the information that we're getting becomes pretty important," he said.

"The strength of the squad is probably sometimes some of the kids that are missing out that are a little bit unlucky – that shows what depth is actually there."

With COVID-19 hitting pause on the majority of representative cricket in the past two years, Clark said the focus for this summer's series was to reward top age players with the chance to represent their country.

Then, with an eye to the 2024 Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, Clark expects a large turnover in the squad for the tour of England throughout August and September, as they aim to expose those players who will be still eligible for selection for the major tournament the following year.

"We're trying to provide some Under 19 age guys opportunities because of the in-between years between World Cups," he said. 

"And then with the return series in England later in the year, potentially we could provide some of the Under 18 bowlers some opportunities there.

"I think the Under 19 guys will drop out (for the England tour) and then we'll move to the Under 18 base of the of the age group to give them their opportunity."

Australia's first four-day game begins on January 29 in Brisbane.

2023 Australia Male Under 19 series v England

Jan 29-Feb 1: First four-day game | Allan Border Field

Feb 6-9: Second four-day game | Ian Healy Oval

Feb 13: First ODI | Allan Border Field

Feb 15: Second ODI | Allan Border Field

Feb 17: Third ODI | Ian Healy Oval

Feb 19: T20I | Ian Healy Oval