Former Australia skipper and seasoned batter Steve Smith failed to find a place in Australia’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean, next month. The team will be captained by all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who has been promoted to full-time T20I skipper of the team.
Besides Smith, the other notable omissions from the T20 World Cup squad are youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk, experienced seamer Jason Behrendorff and all-rounder Matt Short.
Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey said leaving out names like Smith was a hard call to take. “Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly,” Bailey said.
“Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover. We will continue monitoring several players who have missed out on this preliminary squad and note that if we need to change this squad, we have the option to do so over the coming month in accordance with ICC regulations.”
“Ultimately the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign,” he explained.
Left-arm spinner Ashton Agar earned a recall despite not having played a T20I since the last T20 World Cup on Australian soil in 2022. The 2021 T20 World Cup champions have named a side loaded with all-round options in the form of Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell.
Meanwhile, for Marsh, who has been at the helm of the T20 side on an interim basis for much of the last 12 months, the T20 World Cup will be his first major tournament as full-time skipper.
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa