Cricket Australia has released the list of nationally contracted players, in which six players have been excluded from the list. Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja are named among these six players who have been dropped from Cricket Australia’s list of nationally contracted players.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh returned back to Cricket Australia list of 20 nationally contracted players released on Thursday, but there was no place for his brother Shaun or struggling batsman Usman Khawaja in the list. The older Marsh sibling and Khawaja were among six players who have been cut off from a group that selectors loaded with limited-overs player’s names to reflect Australia’s upcoming schedule, particularly the 20-20 World Cup scheduled to commence from October-November.
“With many of the squads coming 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”. Others who are dropped from the list who were the core of Australia’s International Squads were Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter- the Nile, and Marcus Harris. “As is always the case there are unlucky omissions but however because you are not on the list does not mean that you cannot be selected to represent Australia”, Hohns said.
Mitchell Marsh who is a prolific player who performed outstandingly even when he was not included in the centrally contracted list, his form clearly indicated that “he has a lot of international cricket ahead of him as a batting all-rounder”, Trevor Hohns added.
Prolific middle-order batsman Marnus labuschagne is among the few expected selected players along with joe burns, Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson, and Matthew Wade. “Joe has been a good test match player, Ashton Agar’s form in T20 Internationals has been exceptional while Kane Richardson has been an outstanding player in the T20 and one-day games”.
Australia tour to England for three one-dayers and three 20-20 matches in July is uncertain after the England and Wales Cricket Board has delayed the start of their season until July 1 due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
Let’s have a look upon the list of Australia’s Nationally 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.
