Steve Smith has shockingly been left out of Australia's 15-man squad for next month's T20 World Cup.
Aussie icon Smith's omission was confirmed on Wednesday alongside the decision to leave out promising youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk, who's shone in the Indian Premier League this year. Chair of selectors George Bailey suggested that Smith is among Australia's big-name stars who've begun to "drop off" and no longer warrant a place in the squad.
The 34-year-old ex-captain replaced retiring legend David Warner at the top of the batting order for Australia's two-match Test series against the West Indies in January and then away to New Zealand the following month, but Smith failed to impress on both occasions. Warner, though, hasn't retired from short-form cricket and has made the cut for the T20 tournament in the West Indies and USA which begins on Saturday, June 1.
"We've had a handful of players - probably more than some other countries - that have been multi-format for a long, long period of time, and it's natural that some of those will start to drop off," Bailey explained. He added that Smith and Fraser-McGurk - who tallied a stunning 259 runs for the Delhi Capitals on Saturday - were both part of "long conversations" before a call was made to omit them.
Mitch Marsh will captain a star-studded side which also includes Test skipper Pat Cummins, opener Travis Head, and first-choice fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, all of whom won the recent ODI World Cup in India. Australia's announcement comes a day after England confirmed their provisional squad, with Chris Jordan making a surprise return.
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Jordan, 35, has only played in four T20 internationals since England's World Cup win in 2022 but has impressed over the winter by playing in Australia's Big Bash League as well as in the UAE and Pakistan. His ability as an all-rounder and prior tournament experience persuaded England's selectors to recall him after Surrey's Jamie Overton was ruled out with a back injury.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer has notably recovered from a long-standing elbow problem to make the squad, while spinner Tom Hartley got the nod over Rehan Ahmed, despite not yet playing for England in cricket's shortest format. Managing director Rob Key said of Archer's return: "Jofra's that bowler that's just so special you do everything you can to try to get him back playing.
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Chris Jordan has earned an England recall after impressing over the winter (Will Russell - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)"We've taken the longer road this time. He's one of those rare cricketers. When you look at the attributes you want for a bowler in international cricket, Jofra has all of them. A lot of bowlers tick one or two of those, but Jofra has absolutely all of them.
"For Test cricket or white-ball cricket, he's someone who can bowl at any stage. He can start, bowl in the middle and at the end, and he can smack it as well. It's a better game when pace is in it. Fingers crossed we continue to go in the right direction with him."
England's provisional T20 World Cup squad: Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
Australia's provisional T20 World Cup squad: Mitch Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matt Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
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