T20 World Cup: Aus Announce Squad, Steve Smith Out, Mitchell Marsh Named Captain

Australia's 2024 T20 World Cup squad revealed, Fraser-McGurk & Steve Smith omitted, Mitchell Marsh named captain.

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The 2021 T20 World Cup champions made some surprising exclusions from their squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, omitting veteran batter Steve Smith, young talent Jake Fraser-McGurk, seamer Jason Behrendorff and all-rounder Matt Short.

Mitchell Marsh has been confirmed as the full-time T20I captain. While Marsh has been performing the role of interim captain of Australia's T20I side for much of the last 12 months, the T20 World Cup will be his first major tournament as skipper.

Ashton Agar has earned a recall despite not featuring in a T20I since the last T20 World Cup in 2022, while Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell will join the squad as all-round options.

Selection chair George Bailey expressed confidence in the team's balance, anticipating a strong performance in the tournament's ninth edition.

“This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents. It’s great to have Ashton Agar back into the squad following a spate of unfortunate and untimely injuries," Bailey said.

"We believe Ashton can play a critical role in this tournament along with Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Cam Green and Mitch Marsh in complementing our front-line attack options. The batting options available allow a tailored approach to each venue and opponent," he added.

Bailey acknowledged that the squad's limited size of 15 meant several deserving players missed out.

“Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly," Bailey added.

"Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover. We will continue monitoring several players who have missed out on this preliminary squad and note that if we wish to change this squad, we have the option to do so over the coming weeks in accordance with ICC regulations.

"Ultimately the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign," he said.

The Australian squad is set to touch down in the Caribbean by late May, kicking off their World Cup campaign against Oman. This will be followed by matches against England, Namibia, and Scotland.

• 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.