Former Australia coach Tim Nielsen will take over as Australia’s U19 coach ahead of the upcoming series against India’s U19 team.
CA has announced a 15-member Australia U19 squad for the upcoming home series in Brisbane and Mackay starting next month, which will feature 50-over matches and two four-day games.
Tim Nielsen has coached Australia Men’s team between 2007 and 2011 having assisted former Australia coach John Buchanan before that as well as being head coach of CA’s Centre of Excellence.
Following his stint with Australia’s men, Nielsen was South Australia and Adelaide Strikers’ long-time high performance manager before resigning in February 2024.
He took up a role of Pakistan’s high-performance red-ball coach alongside Jason Gillespie when the latter was Pakistan’s test coach in 2024.
Nielsen returns to a development role at CA after Lachlan Stevens resigned as CA’s development coach earlier this year and his first duty will be to lead an U19s squad in their bilateral series before U19s World Cup in January in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Australia has made several changes from India in September and October last year, where they were beaten 2-0 in the Youth Test series and 3-0 in the Youth ODI series.
Only four players Simon Budge, Steve Hogan, Hayden Schiller and Alex Lee Young were the only players retained in the squad.
“We’re excited to continue our preparation for the ongoing ICC U19 World cup cycle, with an exciting squad of emerging players,”CA’s Head of National Development Sonya Thompson said.
“The multi-format tour is designed to challenge players to adapt and grow, while also giving selectors and coaches meaningful insights ahead of the National U19 Championships in December.”
“We’re also thrilled to welcome Tim Nielsen as Head Coach of the National U19 squad. His extensive international experience and leadership will be instrumental in guiding and inspiring Australia’s next generation of cricketers.
Meanwhile, BCCI has announced India’s U19 squad where Ayush Mhatre has been retained as captain while Vaibhav Suryavanshi has also been included in the squad.
The three Youth ODIs will be played on September 21, 24 and 26 at Ian Healy and the first Youth Test will also be held in same venue starting on September 30 while the second test will be played in Mackay from October 07.
Australia U19 Squad: Simon Budge, Alex Turner, Steve Hogan, Will Malajczuk, Yash Deshmukh, Tom Hogan, Aryan Sharma, John James, Hayden Schiller, Charles Lachmund, Ben Gordon, Will Byrom, Kasey Barton, Alex Lee Young, Jayden Draper
Reserves: Zed Hollick, Tom Paddington, Julian Osborne
