Melbourne: Senior batsmen Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh missed out but the fast-rising Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Burns were rewarded for their performances in Cricket Australia’s annual player contracts announced on Thursday.
The list, which has come later than scheduled due to the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, features six new faces for the 2020-21 season — Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar, Burns, Labuschagne, Kane Richardson and Matthew Wade to the list.
“Marnus’s rise has been meteoric and well-documented, Joe has been a good test match player, Ashton Agar’s form in T20 internationals has been exceptional, while Kane Richardson has been outstanding in the 20-over and one-day games,” Chief selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement on Thursday. Labuschagne has risen to no.3 in ICC rankings after making Test debut for Australia in 2018.
In 14 Tests he has played, Labuschagne averages over 63 and has accumulated 1459 runs. Burns averages over 50 in both Tests and ODIs. The 33-year-old Khawaja, who missed out for the first time in five years, didn’t feature in any Test for Australia since losing his place after the third Test against England in August last year. (PTI)
