Steven Smith and David Warner Reclaim Cricket Australia Central Contracts

Former Australia Cricket Team skipper Steven Smith and vice-captain David Warner have returned to Cricket Australia’s Central Contract list following a year-long suspension in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal. Also, James Pattinson has made the cut who is likely to play a significant role in the upcoming Ashes series after the ICC World Cup 2019.

Smith and Warner regain Cricket Australia contracts

Meanwhile, Smith and Warner have made a return to the international team for the marquee event starting from May 30. Both of them have looked in excellent touch in the warm-up games leading to the World Cup. While David Warner finished as the highest run-scorer in the IPL, Smith showed his class in the practice games against New Zealand A compelling head coach Justin Langer draw a comparison with Sachin Tendulkar. Australia will begin their World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on June 1.

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On the other hand, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has lost his contract despite being the vice-captain of the Test team in 2018 for a brief period. Besides, Ashton Agar, Billy Stanlake, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye have lost their contracts, while Nathan Coulter-Nile, Marcus Harris and Adam Zampa have joined the contract list.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said that the list provides a pool of versatile cricketers who can represent Australia in all the formats of the game. He also added that they have focused on the cricketers who can win them the upcoming World Cup and the subsequent Ashes Trophy.

“We believe the 2019-20 contract list provides us with a versatile group of players who can represent Australia across all three formats over the contract period,” chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said.

2019-2020 Cricket Australia contracts:

Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Alex Carey, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa