Tasmania confirm signing Cowan

Tasmania have gained three imports from New South Wales and axed three semi-regular members of their side for the 2009-10 season. The Tigers have confirmed their list of contracted players, which does not feature Dane Anderson, Mark Divin or David Dawson, all of whom had deals last summer.

Their major signing was the New South Wales opener Ed Cowan, who has 25 first-class games to his name but found himself on the fringes of the Blues outfit last year. Cowan has been joined in heading south by two fellow New South Wales grade cricketers, the fast bowler Adam Maher and the bowling allrounder Matthew Day.

Day is one of two new faces on the rookie list, along with the wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt, who played for the Australia Under-19s this year. Jonathan Wells and James Faulkner, both of whom made their Sheffield Shield debuts last summer, have been upgraded from the rookie list to senior deals.

The Tigers have lost the fast bowler Chris Duval to his home state of South Australia and couldn't find room for Anderson, Divin or Dawson. The squad will be captained next season by George Bailey after Daniel Marsh's decision to step down, although Marsh remains in the squad.

Tasmania squad George Bailey (capt), Tim Paine, Travis Birt, Luke Butterworth, Ed Cowan, Gerard Denton, Michael Dighton, Xavier Doherty, Alex Doolan, Brendan Drew, James Faulkner, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Ben Hilfenhaus (Cricket Australia contract), Jason Krejza, Rhett Lockyear, Tim Macdonald, Adam Maher, Daniel Marsh, Ricky Ponting (CA), Jonathan Wells.

Rookies Matthew Day, Wade Irvine, Brady Jones, John Rogers, Jeremy Smith, Tom Triffitt.