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An Ashes hero in December, fast bowler Jhye Richardson has been omitted from Cricket Australia's contract list due to the rise of Scott Boland.
Emerging quick Jhye Richardson has been cut from Cricket Australia's contract list after the extraordinary rise of Scott Boland.
The Western Australian is the most surprising omission from CA's 20-player list for the 2022-23 season.
Richardson claimed a vital second-innings five-wicket haul in the Test victory over England in Adelaide last December, but has only played two Twenty20s for Australia since.
The 25-year-old was overlooked for the next Test at the MCG in preference for Boland, who went on to memorably claim player-of-the-match honours on debut.
Boland, who has a Test bowling average of 9.55 after three Tests, retains his spot after earning a mid-season contract upgrade.
The Victorian toured Pakistan but did not play a Test as Australia used spinners Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson for two of the three matches.
Western Australian keeper-batter Josh Inglis is the only new face to the list after seamlessly fitting into the Twenty20 team following last year's World Cup win.
Inglis shapes as a key part of Australia's title defence on home soil in October and will continue putting pressure on Alex Carey for the gloves in the Test side.
Like Boland, Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis and Swepson were all promoted to last season's list after missing the initial intake.
"It has been a terrific 12 months highlighted by the successes of the T20 World Cup, the Ashes and the Pakistan Test series," chairman of selectors George Bailey said.
"The performances by Mitch Marsh, Usman, Travis, Scott, Marcus and Mitch Swepson were pivotal in helping secure those successes and we are pleased they have retained their contracts.
"We believe this group provide us great coverage and versatility across all formats while others, as we saw in the past year, will continue to get opportunities to play a big part.
"With a tour of Sri Lanka, a home World Cup, home summer and tour of India there is an enormous amount of cricket to be played where the strength of our squads and depth will be challenged.
"To contract just 20 players was challenging given the number of key series and the cycle of upcoming T20 and one-day World Cups, all of which will require varying skill sets and combinations."
CRICKET AUSTRALIA CONTRACT LIST: Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
