Experienced campaigners lead Australian Academy

Mark Cosgrove has spent 12 weeks working on his skills at the Centre of Excellence © Getty Images

Eleven first-class players have been named in the Australian Academy squad that is aiming to win the Emerging Players Tournament for the first time. The 17-man outfit, which begins its campaign with two Twenty20 games on the Sunshine Coast on Monday, has been boosted by the inclusion of Mark Cosgrove, the former one-day international, and Luke Ronchi and Brendan Drew, who are in Australia's 30-man preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa.

Cullen Bailey, the Cricket Australia-contracted legspinner, has been selected with New South Wales' opening batsman Ed Cowan and the Western Australians Luke Pomersbach and Aaron Heal. The coaching contingent is also impressive with the national bowling mentor Troy Cooley working alongside the fielding expert Mike Young and assistant Dene Hills to back up the head coach Brian McFadyen.

The World Cup winner Darren Lehmann is also part of the squad's management and he will help prepare the players for the three Twenty20 and seven one-day fixtures against teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Karnataka in India. McFadyen said the tournament would test his men after they completed a 12-week preparation phase at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.

"Many players have looked to expand their skill sets during the high-density training programme and we are excited about the prospect of improvement," he said. "There is no doubt that they are all fitter and more advanced in all areas of their games than last year, so they enter this tournament with great confidence."

A side from India won the inaugural Emerging Players Tournament in 2005 while South Africa were successful last year. The event begins on Monday and finishes with the finals in Brisbane on July 28.

Australian Academy squad Craig Philipson (Qld), Matthew Wade (Vic), Ben Cutting (Qld), Brendan Drew (Tas), Aaron Finch (Vic), Shawn Gillies (WA), Aaron Heal (WA), Luke Pomersbach (WA), Luke Ronchi (WA), Grant Sullivan (Qld), David Warner (NSW), Ed Cowan (NSW), Moises Henriques (NSW), Cullen Bailey (SA), Mark Cosgrove (SA), Michael Hill (Vic), Phillip Hughes (NSW).