Seven top Australian players — Pat Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, and Jhye Richardson — could pull out of the national team’s white-ball series in the West Indies next month, according to media reports.
The development comes a day after Cricket Australia announced six additions to their 23-member preliminary squad for the limited-overs cricket tours of West Indies and Bangladesh in July and August.
A report in Nine Media on Wednesday said that the seven-star players could pull out after having spent considerable periods in various cricketing bubbles over the past few months.
All-rounder Daniel Sams, who contracted Covid-19 in India ahead of the Indian Premier League, had already made himself unavailable for selection due to mental health.
The Aussies, who are mulling pullout, were part of the IPL 2021 which was suspended and is likely to resume in mid-September in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The players had reached home after having spent 14 days quarantining in the Maldives and about a week in Sydney on arrival from India. The Australia team leaves for the Caribbean on June 28 giving players less than a month to unwind after arrival from India and serving quarantines from which they were finally released on May 31.
The all-format players like Cummins, Smith, and Warner have been living in biosecure environments from late August ahead of the IPL 2020 in UAE. The IPL 2020 bio-bubble was followed by one during the home series against India. After some rest, they were in IPL again.
Now, after the trip to West Indies, the Aussies tour Bangladesh and follow it up with a possible outing at the remainder of IPL 2021 and the T20 World Cup, although Cummins has already told Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Dinesh Karthik that he won’t play IPL.
