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Aust name squad for possible England tour

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Cricket Australia has named 26 players in a squad for a possible limited-overs tour of England later this year, which includes an uncapped trio.

Australian selector TREVOR HOHNS. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Cricket Australia is bullish about soon locking in a limited overs tour of England.

Australia has named a squad of 26 players for a potential series against England of one-dayers and Twenty20 games, most likely in September.

"We are hopeful, we are optimistic," CA's executive general manager of national teams Ben Oliver told reporters on Thursday.

"But there are some complexities of the tour that we still need to work through.

"We are doing that as quickly as we can to try and give everyone some certainty.

"It's fair to say that over the next two to three weeks, it's a really critical period for us to work through some of the remaining issues that need to be resolved."

Quarantine arrangements on arrival in England, and again on return to Australia after the series, were chief concerns.

Australia's squad, which includes uncapped youngsters Josh Philippe, Riley Meredith and Daniel Sams, will continue training with their respective states with a clear message: get ready.

"Our challenge for our players is to be prepared and ready to go whenever tours are able to recommence," Oliver said.

Australia was initally scheduled to play three ODIs and three Twenty20 games in England in July.

That tour was benched amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But England's successful return to hosting international cricket, in a Test series against West Indies which started last week, raised Australian expectations of a September tour.

"It's great that the West Indies and England were able to get that Test match going, that gives us great optimism about hopefully this tour but certainly our home summer as well," Oliver said.

"The ECB have been brilliant at engaging with us about their plans and what they're experiencing currently.

"They are also scheduled to have Pakistan and Ireland (tour) before us, so there's no doubt learnings that will be taken from that.

"We're in regular discussions with them about their plans and how they're evolving, they have done a brilliant job and should be commended on getting international cricket up and running."

Australia squad: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Michael Neser, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, D'Arcy Short, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.