All-rounder Marcus Stoinis and spin bowler Ashton Agar have been dropped from Australia’s contracts list for the 2024/25 season after falling out of favour with selectors.
Stoinis lost his spot in Australia’s ODI team to Marnus Labuschagne during the World Cup in India and has not been seen in the team since, while left-arm spinner Agar has played only one international match in the past year.
The Western Australian duo were jettisoned from the 23-man central contracts list released on Thursday along with Test opener Marcus Harris, paceman Michael Neser and the retiring David Warner.
The annual contracts list offers a snapshot of the pecking order in Australian cricket before the start of a new season, though players can be promoted into it based on performance during the season.
Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett is the sole new face on the list, rewarded after his impressive debut ODI series against West Indies and T20I debut against the Caribbean side in February.
Tasmania fast bowler Nathan Ellis, Western Australia all-rounder Aaron Hardie and white-ball batter Matt Short were retained after earning promotion during the last season.
“Matt, Aaron and Xavier have been extremely impressive in the early stages of their international careers,” said chief selector George Bailey.
“The panel believes they have strong futures and are deserved of their contracts as they work towards striving to become regulars in the Australian setup,” he added.
Bailey also indicated selectors were leaning towards naming another spinner in Australia’s 15-player squad for this year’s World Cup edition alongside the star leggie and off-spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell with pitches in the Caribbean traditionally slower with less bounce.
“The balance of the squad will probably lend itself to having that second spinner there,” Bailey told reporters from Hobart.
“It still seems hard for everyone to get their head around the fact Glenn Maxwell’s a pretty handy white-ball spinner and we don’t necessarily consider him a part-time option, he’s one that we consider a frontline option.
“So ‘Zamps’ will clearly be there, and I think there will be an opportunity potentially for one more. We will come together at the end of April to put a squad together for that and both ‘Stoin’ and Ash Agar will be firmly in the mix for the squad. There’s not a great deal of T20 cricket next year in terms of how quickly we need to build towards the next World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka in 2026),” Bailey said.
“In one-day and T20 cricket it always moves more in cycles than Test cricket just given the nature of the buildup to those major tournaments.
“Going forward, I think performances both individually and as a team will dictate how quickly that team transitions,” Bailey said.
“We’ve been pretty clear that Scott Boland, Michael Neser and Lance Morris have been the three that have been ready and waiting and unfortunately for them they haven’t had an opportunity,” Bailey said.
Australia, the ODI and Test world champions, will bid for a second T20 World Cup title in the United States and Caribbean at the tournament starting in June.
Australia men’s contracts 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 and Adam Zampa
Chief selector George Bailey
