FORMER Launceston all-rounder James Faulkner has been left out of Australia's one-day international squad for the first two matches of the series against South Africa in Perth in order to get some red-ball cricket under his belt.
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The 24-year-old will instead play Sheffield Shield for the Tasmania after his Twenty20 commitments finish against the Proteas, with the final game of that series being on Sunday, November 9, in Sydney.
He played just two Shield games last summer after spending the majority of the Test summer as 12th man for the Ashes series.
Australian selector Trevor Hohns said on the Cricket Australia website that it was important that both he and New South Welshman Mitchell Starc spent some time playing Shield cricket.
"We need them firing in all forms of the game to keep pressure on players who have been selected," Hohns said.
Tasmania's second Shield match of the season begins on November 8 in Hobart (a day-night fixture against Victoria), before it hosts Western Australia from November 16.
To play both those fixtures, he would have to miss the final T20 international on Sunday week.
But, if selected for the squad for the third ODI on November 19 in Canberra, he would have to leave the Warriors clash early.
Faulkner has failed to live up to his high standards after returning to the 50-over team after his knee injury in the tri-series in Zimbabwe in August.
The right-hand batsman and left-arm fast medium bowler has taken just six wickets in those eight matches against Zimbabwe, South Africa and then Pakistan at 45.6 and scored 131 runs at 32.75, that average aided by four not-outs.
Tasmanian skipper George Bailey, as the squad's vice-captain, is the only Tiger in the squad, with spinner Xavier Doherty not part of the team for the pace-friendly conditions.
Bailey is coming off a poor tour of Pakistan, where he scored 46 runs at 15.3.
Tigers keepers Tim Paine and Ben Dunk, who will have the gloves for the T20 series, were overlooked for former Tasmanian Matthew Wade with Brad Haddin being rested.
Wade has been selected after scoring 101 runs at 16.8 in the domestic one-day cup (302 runs less than Dunk and 146 fewer than Paine), but was exceptional at times behind the stumps for Victoria.
AUSTRALIAN SQUAD: Michael Clarke (c), George Bailey (vc), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson.
