Glimpse of Ashes future with extended U19 series

Australia's next crop of stars will take on England home and away next year, with Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirming a reciprocal male Under 19 series to be played in 2023.

Australia will first host England in a multi-format series consisting of two four-day matches, three ODIs and a T20I played across Brisbane's National Cricket Campus in late January and February, before they travel to the UK in the middle of the year.

It means stars from Australia's U19 World Cup side from earlier this year such as NSW fast bowler Will Salzmann and Victorian off-spinner Harkirat Bajwa could get the chance to represent their country again.

WA prodigy Teague Wyllie is also eligible for selection, however, is likely to be unavailable due to Sheffield Shield commitments such has been the rise to prominence from the 18-year-old.

The six-match series in Australia begins with a four-day game at Allan Border Field on January 29 and concludes with the sole T20I at Ian Healy Oval on February 19.

The Aussies will then fly over to England in August 2023 to play five ODIs and two four-day matches – not long after Australia's senior men's and women's sides will have returned from their own Ashes battles.

Australia's squad for the home leg of the series will be picked following the Cricket Australia Under 19 Male National Championships which begin in Adelaide today.

However, Australia Under 19 coach Anthony Clark, who will coach NSW Metro at the championships, says the squad selection based off a number of factors and preparations for it began almost twelve months ago.

"We've been having meetings with states for quite a period of time now since the last World Cup about players of interest," Clark told cricket.com.au

"Cricket Australia does some skills testing as well through that time and we had a camp in September in Brisbane where 26 players were invited where we played a couple of games.

"I feel like we've got a pretty good gauge on which are the best players and in this tournament, we're just looking for anyone outside of that.

"Across the championships, we've got selectors and other coaches meeting and talent managers converging to have dinners and talk about things so it's quite wide reaching."

After two years of no championships due to Covid, Clark said it was going to be the first real taste of underage cricket at the national level for many players.

While he didn't feel the quality of players had been diminished, Clark said the tendency to neglect red-ball cricket due to Covid logistics over the past two seasons could have changed they style of play and that they were looking for players with a wide range of skills for the multi-format series against England.

"The most exciting thing is to play some longer format cricket for these guys. It's something that over Covid over the last two years, we've only had the one national champs for Under 19s so a lot of these guys never been to a national championship before," he said.

"The fact that a lot of the states just played white-ball cricket has probably starved them of playing that red-ball way of playing cricket.

"I don't think that that's hindered the players, it's probably just stopped them having different experiences if there was no Covid.

"It's all white-ball games here (at the National Championships) but some of the transfers into red-ball cricket, and states will have a fair idea of what format guys are suited to."

Australia's last international U19 bilateral series came when they hosted New Zealand in 2019, with the likes of Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha and Ollie Davies all members of that side.

It will be the first time since 2015 an Aussie U19 side has travelled to England when they leave for the UK in August and Clark said he was looking forward to being able to guide a young group though their first overseas tour both on and off the field.

"It's not just the cricket, it's going away seeing another part of the world, playing different formats, forming friendships, a number of experiences, different conditions," he said.

"There's lots of positives and I think the whole idea really is just to give some pretty talented guys the opportunity to show what they can do and take an experience that might help them."

With an eye to the 2024 Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, Clark said the squad for the tour of England would likely be different to the initial squad for this summer, as they look to give the players eligible for that tournament an opportunity in the green and gold.

"I think initially in this squad we'll try keep the guys that are Under 19 and the best players (together) as they won't be age restricted at all," he said.

"But I think when we get to that other tournament later in the year, we'll have a few more under 18 players with an eye to the Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2024.

"But we'll be flexible with that, if there was someone that was an under 19 player and might miss this and miss the opportunity due to injury or illness, then potentially we'd like to get that experience into them later in the year in England."

The national championships will run from December 15 to 22, with players selected in the national squad having a month to prepare for their first clash with England which starts on January 29.

2023 Australia male Under 19 series vs. 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

2023 Australia male Under 19 Tour of England

Aug 26: First ODI | The County Ground, Beckenham

Aug 28: Second ODI | The County Ground, Beckenham

Aug 31: Third ODI | The County Ground, Beckenham

Sep 2: Fourth ODI | The First Central County Ground, Hove

Sep 4: Fifth ODI | The First Central County Ground, Hove

Sep 8-11: First four-day game | New Road, Worcester

Sep 16-19: Second four-day game | The County Ground, Northampton