Cricket Australia (CA) has announced the lengthened list of 24 contracted players for Australia ahead of their battle against England for the Ashes 2023, WTC final, and ODI World Cup later this year. Todd Murphy, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris, Michael Neser, and Marcus Harris were awarded contracts for their good performance in the domestic and International circuits.
Chief selector George Bailey has announced the list of twenty-four players who will be part of the contract for this year and reckoned the players to contribute to the team’s success at the WTC finals and the ODI world cup scheduled later this year.
On the biggest surprise, Marcus Harris was handed contract over Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb, as he is seen as a potential replacement for David Warner for Australia in Ashes 2023. Todd Murphy was awarded the contract for his exceptional performance against India in BGT 2023.
“There have been some outstanding individual and team performances over the past 12 months. Equally, we have been extremely impressed with the emergence of some players who are knocking on the door of Australian selection across all three formats,” Bailey said.
Australia men’s contract list 2023-24: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
WTC Final And Ashes 2023 Are On Our Doorstep – Australian selector George Bailey
Former Australian skipper George Bailey said that the Australian team has two huge challenges in red-ball cricket in a couple of months in the form of the WTC final against India and followed by all exciting Ashes in England and reckons that the players for the contract are selected based on their ability to contribute for the team in high octane tournaments.
“Two huge challenges in the test arena, in the World Test Championship and the Ashes, are on our doorstep followed soon after by the ICC One-Day World Cup, We have chosen a group of players we expect will form the majority of those two campaigns and we know that we will need a squad mentality to achieve success,” George Bailey said.
Australia will take on India in the 2023 WTC Final at Kensington Oval on June 7, 2023, with a reserve day on June 12. Team India lost the inaugural edition of the WTC Final in 2021 against New Zealand at Southampton.