Big players miss out as Australia announce men's new contracts

Cricket Australia (CA) recently released the names of the 23 players who have won new contracts on Thursday, with veteran all-rounder Marcus Stoinis the biggest omission on a new deal.

However, Stoinis has suffered back injuries in recent times, but he was part of Australia’s winning ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup squad last year and remains on the radar in their selection process for June’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup as well.

Marcus Stoinis dropped from the new contract

However, Marcus Stoinis is joined by another all-rounder Ashton Agar, opening batter Marcus Harris, pacer Michael Neser and recently retired star David Warner as well who have missed out on fresh contracts, with CA opting to provide deals to the new faces as well.

All-rounders Matt Short and Aaron Hardie have been included in the new deals after they were upgraded to the contract list during the summer along with the fast bowler Nathan Ellis. Meanwhile, young right-armer Xavier Bartlett was also added to a full-time contract after impressing with the ball against the West Indies earlier this year as well.

ALSO READ: Zaheer Khan shares MS Dhoni’s plans after IPL 2024

However, Cricket Australia selection chair George Bailey is confident that the players with new deals have great future ahead of them as well.

“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 has been exciting to watch,” he said. “The panel believes they have strong futures and are deserved of their contracts as they work towards striving to become regulars in the Australian setup.”

Cricket Australia contracted men’s players for 2024-25:

Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, 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