Cricket Australia (CA) announced the names of the 23 players who earned the new central contracts on Thursday, with veteran all-rounder Marcus Stoinis being the biggest name missing from the list. Stoinis has battled back injuries in recent times, but he was also part of Australia’s winning ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup winning squad last year and is an integral part of the short format team ahead of June’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.
Stoinis is joined by fellow all-rounder Ashton Agar, opener Marcus Harris, pacer Michael Neser and recently retired star David Warner as players to miss out on fresh contracts, with CA instead opting to provide deals to a handful of new faces, as per the ICC.
All-rounders Matt Short and Aaron Hardie win new deals after they were upgraded to the contract list during the summer, as does fast bowler Nathan Ellis, while young right-armer Xavier Bartlett also wins a full-time contract after impressing with the ball against the West Indies earlier this year. He took two four-wicket hauls in ODIs against the Windies and 2/37 in the solitary T20I that he played.
Cricket Australia selection chair George Bailey expressed confidence that the players with new deals have long international careers ahead of them.
“Matt, Aaron and Xavier have been extremely impressive in the early stages of their international careers. Their performances and the way they have embraced the international stage have been exciting to watch,” he said, as quoted by the ICC.
“The panel believes they have strong futures and deserve their contracts as they work towards striving to become regulars in the Australian setup,” he added.
Cricket Australia contracted men’s players 2024-25: Sean Abbott, Xavier Barlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Jhye Richardson, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.
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