Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis Named In Australia's Preliminary Squad For England Tour

In an another indication that their tour of England could be saved, Australia have named an extended preliminary squad. Cricket Australia, on Thursday, named a 26-member preliminary squad for the limited-overs series scheduled to take place in September.

Three uncapped players – Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and Josh Philippe – have been named in the squad. On the other hand, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile have been overlooked. The trio was a part of Australia’s squad for last year’s World Cup in England.

Hard-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell has made the cut. The right-handed batsman has not played for Australia since last October. He last played for Australia during the home T20I series against Sri Lanka before taking a break due to mental health issues.

Allrounder Marcus Stoinis is back in the contention too. The allrounder was recently dropped from Australia’s limited-overs squads and wasn’t handed a national contract.

Along with Maxwell and Stoinis, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja have also made the cut in the preliminary squad. Fast-bowler Andrew Tye, who could not get a state contract, has been named in the squad too after injuries to Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff.

Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of National Teams, stated that CA and ECB are working together to ensure the series takes place.

“We continue to work with the ECB and government agencies and a decision on the tour will be made in due course” said Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of National Teams.

“In the meantime, the identification of a preliminary list will enable us to work with players and states more directly on the preparation for the tour in the hope it can proceed.

“The health and well-being of players and staff, along with our commitment to public health within our communities, remain our utmost priority.”

National Selector Trevor Hohns noted that the reason behind such an extensive list is not only to ensure the Australian team has cover in case of contingencies, but also to prepare the players for the two upcoming World Cups.

“This preliminary list covers the contingencies of playing One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals in bio-secure hubs with the likely prospect of not being able to bring in replacements should the tour proceed.

“The preliminary list includes several exciting young players who have recently excelled at state level and in the BBL… [and] are among those we would like to develop further as we believe they have a bright future in Australian cricket. The preliminary list also has a view towards the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and in the longer term the 2023 ICC World Cup,” he said.

Meanwhile, international cricket finally resumed last week when England and West Indies took on each other in the first Test in Southampton. Both the teams will play two more Tests before England welcome Pakistan for three Tests and as many T20Is. Pakistan are already in England to prepare for the series.

Australia’s preliminary squad:

Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Michael Neser, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, D’Arcy Short, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

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