Former Test stars produce talented offspring

The children of three former Australian players are part of a 38-strong squad that will attend a national under-18 talent identification camp in Brisbane next month. Craig McDermott's boy Alister, a fast bowler with a rookie contract at the Bulls, will attend the five-day session at the Centre of Excellence along with the batsmen Jack Boon, the son of David, and Mitchell Marsh, who is part of Geoff's family, which also includes the ODI representative Shaun.

John Buchanan, the former Queensland and Australia coach, has already had one of his children pass through the state system, with Michael playing 11 FR Cup games, and now the allrounder Nicholas Buchanan has his chance to impress. Andrew Tazelaar, the spin-bowling son of Dirk, the state's former left-arm fast bowler, is another example of strong sporting genes.

The group has been chosen by Cricket Australia's youth selection panel, which includes Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of the senior selectors, and performances at the camp will help them pick a side to face India's under-18 team next April. A spokesman said the players were identified during the national under-17 championships in Melbourne in January and will undergo specialist coaching and education sessions as well as extensive sports science and sports medicine testing.

"This training camp will provide them with a fantastic opportunity to work closely with some of the best coaches in the country to hone their skills and learn their craft," Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's general manager of cricket, said. "We hope that at camps such as this we can identify some promising young talent and groom them for first-class, and hopefully international, representation in the future."

Squad Joel Garrett (SA), Tom Brinsley (SA), Glenn Dawson (SA), Craig Dand (SA), Aaron Mullins (SA), Alex Carey (SA), Kane Richardson (SA), Ben Dougall (SA), Anthony Del Borrello (WA), Tom Beaton (WA), Mitchell Marsh (WA), Cameron Balcomb (Qld), Nicholas Buchanan (Qld), Ryan Meyer (Qld), Michael Johnson (Qld), Alister McDermott (Qld), Andrew Tazelaar (Qld), Michael Granger (Qld), Hamish Kingston (Tas), Tom Triffitt (Tas), Jack Boon (Tas), Marcus Davies (Tas), Peter Handscomb (Vic), Nathan Walsh (Vic), Kane Griffiths (Vic), Steven Reid (Vic), David Farrell (NSW), Josh Hazlewood (NSW), Luke Doran (NSW), Tim Armstrong (NSW), Nic Maddinson (NSW), Adam Coyte (NSW), Rob Edwards (NSW), Timm Van Der Gugten (NSW), Blake Hutchinson (NSW), Ben Bourke (NSW), Jordon McLennan (ACT), Jason Floros (ACT).