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Cricket Australia releases players’ contract with notable omissions and inclusion
Cricket Australia has released the men’s contract list for 2021-21, where a few notable omissions and inclusions have been made. The board has also reduced the list from 20 to 17 this year, with the names of former Test vice-captain Trevis Head, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, and Joe Burns missing. Further, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis did not receive the Cricket Australia (CA) contract either, despite his recall to Australia’s ODI and T20I teams. CA has also given openers Will Pucovski and Marcus Harris a miss, but the most notable exclusion remains to be that of Head, who has held a CA contract since 2017, the year before he played the first Test to date, while Burns, Marsh, and Wade were all returned to the national contract list last year.
It was revealed by national coach Justin Langer that the national team’s contract list was supposed to be made public on 22nd April. But one of the contracted players could not be contacted and that is why that it was held back and released on 23rd April 2021. Conveying the reason behind reducing the number of contracted players from 20 to 17, Langer stated that CA wishes to increase competitive tension among top-level players, a message that was reiterated by national selection panel (NSP) chair Trevor Hohns.
