T20 World Cup 2024: Steve Smith left out of Australia's squad, Mitchell Marsh to captain

Australia left out some big names as they announced the 15-member squad on Wednesday for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA. Some of the high-profile names to miss out were Steve Smith and experienced fast bowler Jason Behrendorff besides Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short.

Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia in the World Cup and Cricket Australia has also announced that he is the new full-time T20I captain of the team which is loaded with all-rounders like Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell.

Left-arm spinner Ashton Agar was included in the squad despite not playing in T20Is since the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

Explaining the rationale behind the squad, selection chair George Bailey said that there’s experience in the team and it has been picked to suit the “unique nature of the venues and our opponents” in the World Cup.

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," Bailey said. “It’s great to have Ashton Agar back into the squad following a spate of unfortunate and untimely injuries.

“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.”

Bailey added that the cap of 15 players forced selectors to leave out some in-form players.

“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 said. “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 need to change this squad, we have the option to do so over the coming month in accordance with ICC regulations.

“Ultimately the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign.”

Australia face off against Oman in Barbados in their first 2024 T20 World Cup Group B match on 5 June. Their group also consists of England, Namibia and Scotland.

Australia T20 World Cup 2024 squad: Mitchell 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