Injured Smith, six others pull out of Australia’s tour of Windies

Sydney: Seven Australian cricket stars, including Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and David Warner, pulled out of their national team’s upcoming limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh as Cricket Australia (CA) announced an 18-member squad on Wednesday.

Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson have confirmed their withdrawal from the upcoming tours, days after CA expanded its preliminary squad by six players to 29.

“We are naturally disappointed not to have all players available for the Australian team at this time however the NSP (National Selection Panel) respects the decisions of those who have opted out of this tour,” head selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement.

While Smith has withdrawn due to elbow injury, six others according to a release from Cricket Australia “requested not to be considered for the tour for various reasons”.

“Steve Smith was unavailable for selection due to an elbow injury and will now be able to use this time to fully recover ahead of the World Cup and home Ashes series. Steve was disappointed to miss the tour with the decision made on medical grounds,” added Hohns.

All-rounder Cameron Green wasn’t picked.

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha.IANS