MELBOURNE, Australia – Seven players have pulled out of the Australia squad for the limited overs tour of West Indies next month, disrupting selectors’ plans for the Twenty20 World Cup later in the year.
Fast bowler Pat Cummins (right) will miss the tour of West Indies.Pat Cummins, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson and Marcus Stoinis have all opted out of the July 9-24 series scheduled for St Lucia and Barbados while leading batsman Steve Smith has been ruled out through injury.
Chief selector Trevor Hohns said Cricket Australia was disappointed by the players’ decision and warned they were also putting their T20 World Cup places in jeopardy.
“We’re obviously disappointed they made themselves unavailable for this tour but quite frankly we totally understand and respect their decisions,” Hohns said following the announcement of the 18-man squad which will be accompanied by two reserves.
“It’s a little bit frustrating, but at the same time we have to respect – and we do respect and understand the reasons for making themselves unavailable at this time.
“That’s out of our control and if a player wishes to make himself unavailable that’s his prerogative to do so.
“You can’t force them to go on a tour, but what we can say to them is they’re giving someone else an opportunity.”
The reasons for the withdrawal of the seven were not outlined but they were all part of the Indian Premier League that was suspended last month due to a COVID-19 surge in India.
Media reports have indicated the lucrative T20 tournament is likely to resume in mid-September and until October 10.
Cummins, Maxwell, Warner, Stoinis and Jhye Richardson were only recently released from quarantine after spending a week in the Maldives following the suspension of the IPL.
The trio of Jason Behrendorff, Moises Henriques and Riley Meredith also recently ended quarantine but have agreed to tour.
The last-minute departures mean call-ups for uncapped fast bowler Wes Agar and top-order batsmen Ashton Turner and Ben McDermott, both of whom have featured already in the white ball format.
None of the three were in the preliminary squad announced last month.
Should the IPL resumption proceed in September, it will clash with a Tri-Nations Series involving West Indies and Afghanistan, which Australia are eyeing as a warm-up for the World Cup starting in October.
And Hohns said it was important players put country before franchise.
“Around that time of the year, I would certainly hope so (players focus on national duty),” he stressed.
“That would have to be something that’s addressed in the future, we haven’t looked at that yet and we haven’t heard from our players at this stage.
“However, it will certainly depend on their commitments and what we think they should be committing to regarding their Australian commitments at that time.”
SQUAD – Aaron Finch (captain), 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 Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.
