Cricket Australia (CA) will reportedly be sending certain players from the defeated ICC Champions Trophy squad to join Australia A to maximise preparation time for the Ashes.
Following a disappointing pool-round exit from the Champions Trophy, Australia will use the extra time before the opening tour match to give some players time with the A team, who completed a 93-run first-class win over Ireland on Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The players who will join the Australia A team for their match against Gloucestershire in Bristol starting on Friday are yet to be confirmed, although stand-in ODI captain George Bailey said that a couple of batsmen from the Champions Trophy squad would also feature.
Meanwhile, national chairman of selectors John Inverarity said that calling former Pakistani asylum seeker Fawad Ahmed into the Ashes squad will be a judgment call when the time comes, adding that Ahmed's citizenship was likely to be processed in time for the first Test.
However, Inverarity stressed that nothing was locked in at this stage for Ahmed to join Australia's 16-man squad.
Ahmed will play in Australia A's next match against Gloucestershire later this week and if laws have passed Senate to make him eligible by then, a decision will be made on whether he joins the squad, the report added.
