Travis Birt

Australia named a 13-man squad for T20I against Pakistan, drafting specialist players for the shortest format, including 2 new faces, in view of T20 WC in May.

Daniel Christian became only the second aboriginal player to get a national call after he was selected in the Australian squad for T20I against West Indies.

The inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League will feature 56 foreign cricketers, not one of them Indian, after the seven franchises made their choices in a closed-door players' draft system.

Brad Hodge will captain and coach the Australia squad for the Hong Kong Sixes tournament later this month, Cricket Australia announced on Wednesday.

Australia included Daniel Christian in their 15-member T20 squad but made no change to their One-day side for tour of New Zealand starting February 26.

India started their limited-overs tour of Australia on a positive note, comprehensively beating a second-string Western Australia XI by 74 runs in a T20 warm-up.

Australian spin legend Shane Warne and Michael Clarke are all for a Twenty20 showdown when they lead their respective teams in an All-Star match in Brisbane.