Australia on Thursday (July 15) named a 26-member preliminary squad for the limited-overs tour of England, the schedule for which is yet to be confirmed.
See Also - BCCI could push back Australia Tests, scrap T20Is to hold IPL 2020: Reports
The squad features the regulars along with Glenn Maxwell, who hasn’t played for the country since October last year after taking a break to sort out mental health issues.
Usman Khawaja, who missed out on a CA contract for the first time in five years earlier this year, also finds a place in the squad.
In a statement, CA said announcing the squad is “a positive step, albeit not a definitive one” as it works for a return to international cricket amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notably, the international cricket resumed last week with the England-West Indies Test series in a bio-secure environment at Southampton.
“A final decision on the tour has not been made and constructive discussions between Cricket Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board and all relevant government agencies remain ongoing,” the CA statement read.
A final squad will be revealed if the tour, comprising three ODIs and equal number of T20Is, gets confirmed for September.
National Selector Trevor Hohns said the squad is not just for the England tour but has also been picked keeping in mind the T20 World Cup, which is looks set to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This preliminary list covers the contingencies of playing One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals in bio-secure hubs with the likely prospect of not being able to bring in replacements should the tour proceed,” Hohns said.
“The preliminary list also has a view towards the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and in the longer term the 2023 ICC World Cup,” he added.
Uncapped players Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and Josh Philippe have been included in the squad.
“The preliminary list includes several exciting young players who have recently excelled at state level and in the BBL. These emerging players are those we would like to develop further as we believe they have a bright future in Australian cricket,” Hohns said.
Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager of National Teams Ben Oliver said CA is hopeful of the tour going ahead.
“The ECB are a long-standing and valued international cricket partner and we are doing all we can to give the tour the best possible chance of taking place,” he stated.
“In the meantime, the identification of a preliminary list will enable us to work with players and states more directly on the preparation for the tour in the hope it can proceed,” he added.
Australia's Preliminary Squad:
Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Michael Neser, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, D’Arcy Short, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
