Spencer Johnson on Ashes radar after being named in Australia A squad

South Australia left-arm quick Spencer Johnson has vaulted onto Australia's Ashes radar after being named in a 14-man Australia A squad to tour New Zealand in April alongside a mix of current Test squad members and long-term Test hopefuls with the mid-year England tour in mind.Peter Handscomb, who is currently in Australia's Test XI in India, as well as India squad members Matt Renshaw and Mitchell Swepson, have been named but there were some notable absentees. Australia's selectors opted to allow some recent Australia A and Test representatives to go to England to play in the County Championship as part of their Ashes bids rather than be pulled out of county deals to play two four-day games in Lincoln with Dukes balls in the first two weeks of April.Johnson, 26, has burst onto the selectors' radar since starring in his maiden BBL season for Brisbane Heat. He has since made his Sheffield Shield debut for South Australia and taken bags of 6 for 87 and 7 for 47 in his first two first-class games. Young Victoria seamer Mitchell Perry has also been rewarded for his outstanding form having taken 19 wickets in his last three Shield games.Johnson and Perry are part of a bevy of seam bowlers in the A squad including Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett, and Joel Paris while Swepson is the only spinner selected having not played a Test on the India tour. Leading Shield wicket-takers Michael Neser and Mark Steketee have not been selected for Australia A as both have extensive experience playing in England already.The same thinking applies to leading Shield runscorer Cameron Bancroft and fringe Test opener Marcus Harris who both played in the 2019 Ashes series and remain in the selectors' Ashes thinking with discussions to be had over what Australia's best opening combination could be in England.Bancroft is in career-best form having scored four Shield centuries this season, and six in the last 12 months, as well as plundered runs in limited-overs cricket for WA and Perth Scorchers. But he has already played 34 first-class matches in