Australian stars snubbed from 2024/25 contract list

Australian state cricket associations have begun announcing their 2024/25 contracted players for the 2024/25 season four-day Sheffield Shield and One Day Marsh Cup cricket.

Some of Australia’s biggest and brightest white-ball specialists have opted out of their state contracts, while former test players have taken a step back from the arena, while future stars of the red-ball game have taken up opportunities to move for greater opportunities.

Former West Australian players Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye, and Marcus Stoinis will no longer hold contracts with the current Marsh One Day and Sheffield Shield champions in favour of more lucrative opportunities in T20 franchise competitions around the world.

Cricket WA have confirmed they will continue to be supported by Cricket WA’s High-Performance programs.

The four will remain with their current Big Bash League franchises with Behrendorff, Tye and Agar contracted to the Perth Scorchers and Marcus Stoinis suiting up for the Melbourne Stars.

The quartet now have more freedom to participate in T20 franchise leagues across the world, including the Major League Cricket in the United States, the Indian Premier League, the South African T20 competition, the International T20 league in Abu Dhabi, the Pakistan Super League, and The Hundred in England.

Josh Philippe has departed WA to accept a contract with the New South Wales Blues, with Josh Inglis expected to continue the role of first-choice wicketkeeper-batter and former NSW Blues ‘keeper Baxter Holt being added to the WA squad.

Holt has played 12 Sheffield Shield matches and six One Day Cup matches for the Blues after representing Australia during the 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Cricket South Australia have finalised their 24-man squad for the coming season, retaining spearhead left-arm quick Spencer Johnson and young-gun Jake Fraser McGurk, who are currently playing for the Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals, respectively, in the Indian Premier League.

The Redbacks have also announced the signing of former Australian U19 World Cup captain and former New South Wales Blues batter Jason Sangha, along with former Victorian Mackenzie Harvey, to join the Redbacks to form a strong young batting group.

They will be led by newly named captain Nathan McSweeney, who was a part of the Brisbane Heat’s BBL13 championship-winning campaign, captaining a couple of games along the way.

Queensland have also made controversial changes to their squad, with former test opener Joe Burns being left out of their 26-man squad, and are requesting privacy for Burns “due to a recent family bereavement.”

All-rounder and Adelaide Striker James Bazley has also been left out of the squad, along with BBL13 champion Matt Kuhnemann, who made his Australian test debut against India at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi in the second of their four-match test series.

Kuhnemann has been recently announced as a new signing for the Tasmanian Tigers, along with fellow Heat and Queensland player William Prestwidge.

Several young guns have been added to the Bulls squad for the coming summer, including Australian U19’s World Cup-winning captain Hugh Weigben, who scored 120 in the group stages against England before leading the scoring with 48 to beat India in the final at Willowmoore Park Benoni in South Africa.

Tasmania will be sporadically announcing their full squad over the coming weeks, with a full list to be confirmed on May 10.

Cricket Victoria is also yet to confirm their squad for the upcoming summer.

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