Australia have left Steve Smith out of a men’s World Cup squad for the first time in a decade.
Sydney: The wait is finally over, Cricket Australia has revealed their 15-member side that will travel to the USA and the West Indies for the upcoming T20 World Cup. While Mitchell Marsh is set to lead the side, the big surprises are not picking Steve Smith and in-form Jake Fraser-McGurk.
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Ashton Agar and Cameron Green are the big winners from the 15-man squad named for June’s T20 event, with the Western Australian pair picked despite both having been absent from international T20 cricket for nearly 18 months.
Having led the T20I side on an interim basis for the past 12 months, Mitch Marsh has been formally appointed captain of the veteran group gunning for their second men’s T20 title.
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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.
“It’s been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup,” said Marsh, whose selection as T20I captain was ratified by the Cricket Australia Board on Wednesday morning.
“We have had some strong success in recent times and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament.”
Smith has been a consistent presence for the Aussies’ past five white-ball World Cup tilts, helping them win in 2015 and 2023 (ODI), and 2021 (T20).
The 34-year-old, who featured at the last edition of the T20 showpiece event held in the Caribbean in 2010, has not missed out on an Australian World Cup squad since 2014.
