Cricket Australia (CA) recently announced their annual contract list for the men’s team. Australia’s former Test vice-captain Travis Head is among the five players who got axed from the contract. On the other hand, young all-rounder Cameron Green, who made his debut last year, made his way to the contract consisting of 17 men.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis found himself cut out from the list. Opener Will Pucovski too did not find any room for himself. But Head’s omission is of the biggest surprise. The apex body only considered only three specialist batters – David Warner, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne.
Cricket Australia drop Travis Head from annual contract
Speaking in the wake of the announcement, Trevor Hohns said that they want to create an environment where cricketers will strive for a national call on the basis of domestic performances. He also added that cricketers earned their contracts on the basis of their performances in the international arena.
“There are two main reasons behind the size of the contract list announced today,” Trevor Hohns, national selection panel (NSP) chair said today.
“Firstly, we have seen format specialisation become increasingly prevalent in recent seasons which, accordingly, has resulted in a broader group of players representing Australia, often beyond the initial list of contracted players at the start of each year. Secondly, we want to create an environment where players strive for national selection through consistent domestic performances and earn national contracts through consistent international performance,” he added.
The players are selected on the basis of their performances over last year. The emphasis has been given to the players expected to represent Australia in Ashes and T20 World Cup scheduled to take place later this year in India. Trevor Hohns believes that the 17 players included in the contract can cover all forms of the game in the next 12 months.
“But in naming these 17 players, we believe we have a strong core group which cover all forms of the game for the 12 months ahead. There is a considerable amount of international cricket to be played across all formats in the next 12 months and the door to national selection is never closed to players outside this list,” Hohns said.
Cricket Australia men’s contract list 2021-22:
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
