Cricket Australia on Thursday announced the names of 20 nationally contracted cricketers with some major ommissions, while Marnus Labuschagne, as expected, received his first contract.
“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 an official statement. “The depth of this squad and the success of the past 12 months gives us that solid base.”
Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Marcus Harris are the major names that have gone missing from the contracted players’ list.
Usman Khawaja was one of the big omissions from today’s contract announcement.
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“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.
Meanwhile, along with Labuschagne Joe Burns, Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson and Matthew Wade are the new faces that have been added.
“Marnus’s rise has been meteoric and well documented. 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,” Hohns said.
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.