Australia A Call-Up For Gloucestershire Skipper
31 October 2013
Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger has received a huge boost to his dream of representing Australia against England in this winter's Ashes Series.
After a memorable first summer with the county, Michael has been selected for the Australia A team to face England in a four-day fixture in Hobart, starting on November 6th.
If he scores runs in that game the 33-year-old South Australia Redbacks batsman could well force his way into the reckoning for the First Ashes Test later in the month.
Michael is thrilled by his selection, which follows a summer in England in which he scored more than 1,000 runs in first class and in limited overs cricket for Gloucestershire.
He said: “It just shows that I'm still in the Aussie selectors thoughts, which is great.
"It's certainly an ambition of mine to play for Australia in any format of the game so I'll be doing my best to put my name forward.
"This is a good opportunity for me because they wouldn't be picking you for Australia A if you weren't in the mix for the Test Series."
After leaving Gloucestershire to return home for his country’s domestic season, Michael carried on where he had left off in England, dominating the Ryobi Cup competition, scoring 380 runs at an average of 76.
He was told of his Australia A selection by Aussie coach Darren Lehmann, with the added message: "Keep scoring runs and you'll be in the mix."
Michael said: "That's the way Australian cricket is at the moment. If you can stand up over the next few games, you can put your name up there for Test cricket going forward.”
