Cricket Australia (CA) on Wednesday announced the squads that will travel to Bangladesh and West Indies to play limited-overs fixtures. However, seven leading stars have opted out of these tours.
The Aussie stars to have withdrawn from the squad are vice-captain Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Jyhe Richardson, and Kane Richardson.
While former skipper Smith pulled out due to his elbow injury, the other six ‘requested not to be considered for the tours for various reasons’. Wes Agar has earned his maiden call-up, while pacer Nathan Ellis and leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha have been added as reserves.
“We are naturally disappointed not to have all players available for the Australian team at this time, however the NSP [national selection panel] respects the decisions of those who have opted out of this tour,” National Selector Trevor Hohns said.
“Steve Smith was unavailable for selection due to an elbow injury and will now be able to use this time to fully recover ahead of the World Cup and home Ashes series. Steve was disappointed to miss the tour with the decision made on medical grounds,” he added.
“International tours in the time of Covid-19 undoubtedly present many additional challenges for athletes. They also present opportunities for others and, in this case, the chance to push for selection in the Australian men’s T20 World Cup squad later this year and beyond.
“This is a great chance for these players to make a case for the World Cup and all are considered very real prospects of making that tournament by performing well across these tours,” he added.
Australia squad for BAN, WI tours
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa
Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha