Sydney: David Warner and Pat Cummins were among six top names to opt-out of Australia’s white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh while Steve Smith will be missing injured.
Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson also withdrew, leaving coach Justin Langer without many of his best players four months before the Twenty20 World Cup.
Smith has an elbow injury, so the decision to leave him out was made on medical grounds.
The National Selection panel has named the 18-player squad for the Qantas Australian men's white ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh.
Full release: https://t.co/pAV9fr7drd pic.twitter.com/JAGMYQrOy9
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) June 16, 2021
Meanwhile, veteran Dan Christian has returned to the squad and could play his first match for Australia since October 2017.
The squad, captained by Aaron Finch, will leave for the West Indies on June 28 and play five T20s in St Lucia followed by three one-dayers in Barbados.
There is still some doubt over the Bangladesh leg, Cricket Australia said, but if confirmed will comprise five T20s.
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa