As many as seven top Australia cricketers have pulled out of their national team’s upcoming limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh as Cricket Australia (CA) announced an 18-member squad on Wednesday.
Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson have confirmed their withdrawal from the upcoming tours, days after CA expanded its preliminary squad by six players to 29.
While Smith pulled out of the tours due to an elbow injury, the other remaining six players had urged Cricket Australia not to be consider them for various reasons.
“We are naturally disappointed not to have all players available for the Australian team at this time however the NSP (National Selection Panel) respects the decisions of those who have opted out of this tour,” head selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement.
“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,” added Hohns.
The six players who asked not to be considered have spent considerable time in bio-secure bubbles in the past few months and as a result withdrew.
The Australia squad, captained by Aaron Finch, will leave for the caribbeans on June 28. The tourists will play five T20 Internationals in St Lucia followed by three ODIs in Barbados before heading to Bangladesh, which is likley to feature five T20Is.
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), 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