Cricket Australia XI retained for Matador Cup

Cricket Australia's experiment with a youth team in the Matador Cup will continue this summer, with the Cricket Australia XI confirmed as a seventh one-day team for 2016-17.

The CA XI were included alongside the six states in the 2015-16 tournament and the squad was made up of young players who had missed out on selection in their respective state one-day squads.

Although they suffered some extremely heavy losses and finished last on the Matador Cup table, they also provided one upset by beating Tasmania by three runs.

CA XI squad members included Queensland legspinner Mitch Swepson, who has been chosen in the Australia A squad for a series of upcoming winter matches.

"We said initially that we were prepared to back this for a two-year trial and we are sticking to that for the second season as we felt that there were significantly positive results for Australian Cricket,'' CA's executive general manager of team performance, Pat Howard, said.

"With the postponement of the Test tour [to Bangladesh] last October, the CA XI came up against very strong state sides, which was wonderful for the competition but was also a tough introduction for the young group. It is important we continue to review the concept again this season, as there were many positives."