Cricket Australia Announces Male Contracted Player List

Cricket Australia (CA) has announced a list of 20 male contracted players for the 2016-17 season as chosen by the National Selection Panel.

Under the current Memorandum of Understanding between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), the national selectors have the discretion to centrally contract between 17 and 20 players in the initial round of contracts.

Players have been selected based on their performances from July 2015 and the expectation that they will feature in the Australian Test, ODI and T20I sides during the coming year.

The contracts, which cover a 12-month period commencing 1 July 2016, have been awarded to the following players:
George Bailey
Joe Burns
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Patrick Cummins
James Faulkner
Aaron Finch
John Hastings
Josh Hazlewood
Usman Khawaja
Nathan Lyon
Mitchell Marsh
Shaun Marsh
Glenn Maxwell
Peter Nevill
James Pattinson
Adam Voges
Peter Siddle
Steve Smith
Mitchell Starc
David Warner

Commenting on the players chosen, National Selector Rod Marsh said: “The Australian team is set to embark on another busy year of international cricket and we believe the players chosen in this group are those that are right in contention to represent the country over the next 12 months.

“There is a lot of talent within this group and we have confidence that the players chosen can be successful in all three forms of the game, against a range of opposition, in a variety of conditions.

“Following a number of high-profile retirements, we believe this group of players gives us a healthy blend of youth and experience to represent Australia at the highest level, allowing us the best chance of maintaining our number-one rankings in Test and ODI cricket, as well as improving our performances in the T20 format.”

Players not selected in the initial group of 20 contracted players can be upgraded to a CA contract, should they gain national selection during the year.

To receive an upgraded contract, players must earn 12 upgrade points that are awarded on the following basis – five points per Test appearance, two for an ODI and one for each T20 International.

Under the MOU, the minimum value of a CA contract for the 2016-17 season is $270,000 while any player awarded an ‘upgrade’ contract will earn a minimum of $230,000.

Those players overlooked for central contracts are eligible to be contracted by State Associations, with the first round of those deals to be finalised by 7 April and second round by 22 April.