THE ASHES
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State teams have expressed disappointment at Cricket Australia's decision to strengthen England's Ashes preparation at their expense.
England successfully pressured CA to give them stronger opposition for their match in Sydney on November 13.
They were upset at being dished up a fixture against a NSW second XI, and will now face an Invitational side packed with batting talent from around the country - as a result weakening round three of the Sheffield Shield, which runs concurrently.
The states were advised that Usman Khawaja (Qld), Ed Cowan (Tas), Phil Hughes (SA), Aaron Finch (Vic) and Adam Voges (WA) would no longer be available for Shield.
Queensland are expecting NSW to also have to lose a top-line star to balance out the equation.
It's more than likely Nic Maddinson or Steven O'Keefe will be the NSW player included, in addition to them providing the bowling stocks, which will be made up of Blues players who don't make the cut for the Shield side to play the Bulls.
Ironically, England were also unhappy with being pitted against a Western Australia second XI this week in Perth, but the WA side still dominated them with the bat on day one yesterday.
In exchange, England have agreed to reciprocate by improving the quality of the teams Australia will face in the UK before the 2015 Ashes.
But there's a feeling CA should not have made the change, given the mediocre quality of the Somerset and Worcester teams Australia played while in the UK this year - and the strength of county teams on past tours.
Some state officials are also disgruntled at the lack of consultation provided by CA on which player they would lose.
"All states knew there would be some importing of players across these games," said WA chief executive Christina Matthews.
"It wasn't quite expected the way it's turned out. We understand the principle. We probably would have just enjoyed a bit more conversation about who that player was going to be. It's pretty hard for us to keep losing our captain."
Queensland coach Stuart Law also expressed his concern, saying they were disappointed, "but on the flipside it'll give us a chance to pick another player who can show us what he's got".
AAP