Selection committee member George Bailey has explained why Steve Smith was left out of Australia's 15-man T20 World Cup squad.
Australia announced a provisional squad for the tournament on Wednesday, but there was no place for star batsman Smith.
Teams have until May 25 to update their squads, but it seems unlikely that Smith, 34, will be granted a reprieve.
“I think his best work in recent T20s has been coming at the top of the order, and at this point we see that top order as really set in stone,” Cricket Australia selectors said. said Bailey.
“I still think he has a huge amount of good cricket left in him. I think it's for him to decide in whatever format.”
“I know he still loves playing T20 cricket. He's going to play in MLC later this year. So it's still an itch he wants to scratch.”
“We have a small number of players who have been active in multi-format for a long time, probably more than any other country, and it's natural that some of them will start to drop out.”
Australia's T20 World Cup squad
Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Smith's T20 international record is less than impressive, with 1,094 runs in 67 matches at an average of 25 and a strike rate of 125.
In Tests, he is regarded as one of the best players of his generation, scoring almost 10,000 runs at an average of 57, 32 centries and 41 fifties.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh will lead Australia at the T20 World Cup, to be held in June in the Caribbean and the United States.
“It's a great honor to play for your country, but an even greater honor to lead them to the World Cup,” said Marsh.
“We have had great success in recent times and we hope that continues like a wide range of tournaments.”
Australia, who lifted the only T20 World Cup trophy in 2021, will open their match against Oman on June 6. The 50-over champions will also face defending champions England, Scotland and Namibia as they aim to advance from Group B.
“Limiting the World Cup squad to 15 players is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we want to cover,” Bailey added.
“We will continue to monitor a number of players who have not been able to feature in this reserve squad, but if you wish to make changes to this squad, please note that you will have the option to do so in the coming weeks in line with ICC regulations. Please keep this in mind.”
Although Smith has been left out, the Australian squad includes a number of notable players including Pat Cummins, Travis Head, David Warner and Mitchell Starc.
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