Steve Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams and Marcus Stoinis have pulled out of Australia’s upcoming white-ball tours of West Indies and Bangladesh. While Smith is nursing an elbow niggle, the others have opted out due to various other reasons.
Cricket Australia named an 18-man squad for their upcoming white-ball tours of West Indies and Bangladesh in July and August later this year. The squad saw as many as seven top Australian stars pull out for various reasons.
Most of these cricketers came out of quarantine and re-joined their families only on the 31st of May. They had to fly to the Maldives after the suspension of the IPL 2021 as Australia had barred flights from India. Moreover, they had to undergo a 14-day quarantine once they landed in Australia.
“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,”
National Selector Trevor Hohns was quoted saying.
The national selector added that COVID-19 times present many additional challenges for athletes. However, with players pulling out, it presents the fringe cricketers with opportunities to make a case for themselves and push for a permanent spot in the Australian side going forward.
“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,”
Hohns further added.
Australia had announced a preliminary 23-man squad before adding six more players. That squad has been reduced to 18 and it sees the return of Daniel Christian, Ben McDermott and Ashton Turner. Wes Agar gets a maiden call-up while Nathan Ellis and Tanveer Sangha have been announced as travelling reserves.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Alex Carey, Moises Henriques and Mitchell Swepson also make a comeback in the white-ball squad after missing the New Zealand tour as they were named in the Test squad to tour South Africa, which was later cancelled.
Australia will fly to the Caribbean on the 28th of June, and they are scheduled to play five T20Is and three ODIs. The tour kicks off with the T20I series, and it starts on the 9th of July. There are five T20Is planned in Bangladesh, but the dates are yet to be announced.
