Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday (April 30) paved way for the return of Mitchell Marsh to the list of centrally contracted players for the coming year. But the administrative regime, in discussion with the selectors, left out the elder Marsh sibling, Shaun, as well as Usman Khawaja among six players axed from the list after deliberating over the team's schedule across formats.
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"With many of the squad crossing into all three formats it gives us the benefit of being able to add in specialists depending on the opposition and the conditions," chief selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement. "The depth of this squad and the success of the past 12 months gives us that solid base."
Apart from Shaun and Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Marcus Harris were also left out of the central contracts list. "As is always the case there are unlucky omissions but, however, because you are not on the list does not mean you cannot be selected to represent Australia," Hohns said.
Middle-order batsman Marnus Labuschagne was rewarded with a contract after a prolific season, with the selectors also showing faith on Joe Burns, Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson and Matthew Wade.
"Marnus’s rise has been meteoric and well documented," Hohns said. "Joe has been a good Test match player, Ashton Agar’s form in T20 internationals has been exceptional, while Kane Richardson has been outstanding in the T20 and one-day games."
There is no certainty over when cricket will resume because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia's mid-year Test tour to Bangladesh has already been suspended and the team's limited-overs visit to England is also under major threat.
Australia contracted players: Ashton Agar, Joe Burns, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
(Inputs from AFP)
