The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) men’s cricket team is training hard in preparation for Emerging Players Tournament taking place at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane from 6 to 19 August. 

The 21-man AIS squad will be looking to win the title for the first time against teams from India, New Zealand and South Africa in an international series of Twenty20 and 50-over matches.

The AIS squad includes: Peter George, Josh Hazelwood, Nicholas Buchanan, Moises Henriques, Luke Feldman, Sean Abbott, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Luke Pomersbach, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ryan Carters, Glenn Maxwell, Alister McDermott, Nathan Brain, Jason Floros, Nicolas Maddinson and Callum Ferguson.

In addition, the AIS squad will again include two MRF Pace Foundation players Gursewak Singh and Malhotra Sahib continuing the strong reciprocal relationship between the two academies.

The AIS cricketers are training under the guidance of head coach Greg Chappell supported by spin bowling coach John Davison and batting coach David Fitzgerald in preparation for the tournament, which will provide an opportunity to gain valuable experience at the international level.

‘This tournament is a terrific way for our scholars to end their program and be part of some extremely competitive cricket in the lead-up to the Australian interstate season,’ co-coach David Fitzgerald said.

‘This year we’re very lucky to have quite a large complement of players available for selection during the tournament, including some with international experience and those players will play a big role in continuing the development of the younger squad members.

‘To have players of the calibre of Callum Ferguson and Moises Henriques available to work with our younger squad members will be invaluable.

‘Under the guidance of Greg Chappell, the AIS Scholarship program has taken a much more game-focused plan and the scholars have been lucky enough to have some good preparation recently, playing against the touring Mumbai Indians squad.
‘That gave them a good challenge and we’re looking forward to seeing what they learnt from that and some further improvement  for the  tournament starting in a couple of weeks.’ 
The AIS/Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence, which was established in 1987 as the national cricket academy, is currently based in Brisbane and has a proven track record of nurturing and developing Australia’s top cricketers.

Past graduates of CA/AIS program who have played in the Emerging Players Tournament include:  Adam Voges, Ben Hilfenhaus, Luke Ronchi and Shaun Marsh.