Australia’s Ashes-winning players have been rewarded with contracts for a bumper 2026-27 cricket season, but there was no room on the 21-man list for Sam Konstas and Glenn Maxwell.
Paceman Brendan Doggett, who made his full international debut against England in November’s opening Ashes Test in Perth, earned his first national contract, while opener Jake Weatherald, who played all five Tests last summer, retained his upgraded contract despite averaging just 22.33 during the series.
Bowler Michael Neser and spinner Todd Murphy were again handed full contracts, ahead of a crammed Test schedule over the next 12 months, which starts with a two-match home series against Bangladesh in August.
That is followed by ODI tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa, where Australia will also play a three-Test series, before a home white-ball series against England and a run of 10 Test matches in 14 weeks, against New Zealand, India and the 150th Anniversary Test against England at the MCG.
Konstas, who burst on to the international scene with a memorable debut against India on Boxing Day in 2024, lost his spot on the roster after failing to capitalise on his promise since that unorthodox knock of 60 at the MCG.
The batter managed to add just 103 runs across nine further Test innings for an average of 16.30, and paid the price for his poor form and inability to build on good starts in Sheffield Shield cricket with exclusion from Wednesday’s list.
But chair of men’s national selectors George Bailey insisted the door had not shut on the 20-year-old, and selectors were “still firmly interested in what his future holds”.
“Nothing’s really changed in terms of the fact that the man is on a journey,” Bailey said. “Is he highly talented? Yes. Is he on a journey to become a complete and better player? Yes, as all players are. I thought we saw some promising signs towards the back end [of the season], he was consistently getting starts.
“At the start of the season there was a lot of chopping and changing around technique and methods at different times. It looked like that was settling and he was starting to find his feet.
“There were positives out of the fact he was getting consistent starts across those Shield games. He remains a player that we’re incredibly interested in. We’ve got an Australia A trip to India later in the year. I imagine as it stands at the moment, he’s a strong chance to be a part of that.”
Konstas was one of five players to lose their contracts, along with Maxwell, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and Matt Short, while Usman Khawaja was absent after his retirement.
Bailey said Weatherald’s inclusion was an indication, rather than any guarantee, that he would open the batting for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh, after showing signs of improvement since the Ashes series.
“He’s the incumbent in that role,” Bailey said. “He’s had a few good years of really consistent first-class cricket.
“There was a real plan and a target from England around some of the technical aspects of his game. Bouncing out of that Ashes series he went straight to work on how he could address some of those and hopefully fine tune his game. I think we’ve seen at his best that it can work at that level.
“In terms of locking him away for Bangladesh, I think we’ve been pretty consistent on the record as saying, ‘We don’t pick a team until we need to pick a team.’ We’ll have a month-long opportunity for camps up in Brisbane in the lead-up to those Top End Tests. He’ll be a part of those as will a large number of players, just knowing that we’ll need some depth around all positions really across that period.”
Australia contracted players: Xavier Bartlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Brendan Doggett, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa.
