Cricket Australia has awarded central contracts to four new players for the 2024-25 season, but has left experienced allrounder Marcus Stoinis off their 23-man roster. Xavier Bartlett, who has only played three games for Australia (all in 2024), is joined by Nathan Ellis, Matt Short, and Aaron Hardie.
While Bartlett makes the cut for the first time, the other three players have effectively held onto their positions. Even though they were not given a contract at the start, they received upgrades throughout the season after representing Australia in ODIs and T20Is.
Given that the contract expires after this year’s T20 World Cup, David Warner does not make the cut, as he expects to finish his international career after the event. Stoinis, who was dropped from the ODI team during the World Cup last year, is expected to participate in the T20 World Cup this year but is yet to be offered a contract. Ashton Agar, Marcus Harris, and Michael Neser are the other players left from last year’s roster.
Matt Renshaw, who was just named the back-up hitter after Warner’s Test retirement, has not made the cut, unlike T20 specialist Tim David. Jhye Richardson, on the other hand, has managed to keep his status despite not playing for Australia since June 2022 due to a lengthy period on the sidelines with injuries.
CA contracted players 2024-25:
Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Jhye Richardson, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
