All-rounder Cameron Green earns Cricket Australia central contract
Cricket Australia (CA) has announced the annual contract list for the season 2020/21. All-rounder Cameron Green has been offered a national contract, considering his impressive run against India. Meanwhile, Travis Head and Matthew Wade have lost their Cricket Australia contracts. Notably, the board has trimmed the list from 20 (last season) to 17 for the upcoming one. Here is more.
Green has been in sublime form of late
Green made his Test debut against India at the Adelaide Oval last year. He finished the series with 236 runs. He had a terrific Sheffield Shield season, wherein he amassed 922 runs with three centuries at an average of 76.83. "Cameron is a player we believe will play an important role for Australian cricket after his impressive breakout summer," National selector Trevor Hohns said.
Only three specialist batters in the list
The group of centrally contracted players this time comprises just three specialist Test batters, David Warner, Steven Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne. While Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, and Jhye Richardson are the specialist fast bowlers, the spin section is led by Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa. As stated, the list this time has been trimmed to 17 players.
The players who missed out on national contract
The likes of Joe Burns, Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, and Matthew Wade have not been included in the list. "We have seen format specialisation become increasingly prevalent in recent seasons which, accordingly, has resulted in a broader group of players representing Australia, often beyond the initial list of contracted players at the start of each year," added Hohns.
Cricket Australia: List of centrally contracted players
CA contract list: Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
A look at Australia's international schedule
As per the FTP, Australia are due to return to action in July with the white-ball series in West Indies before heading straight to Bangladesh for a T20I series. They will then travel to Sri Lanka ahead of the T20 World Cup, currently scheduled for India in October. Thereafter, Australia will return home for a one-off Test against Afghanistan, and the Ashes (December-January).
