Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner have been left off the national contracts list announced by Cricket Australia on Wednesday. 

The three players, who were caught up in the ball-tampering scandal which took place in the third Test at Newlands in March, were excluded from the 20-man list released by CA.

With the 2019 World Cup in mind, seamer Chadd Sayers, who made his Test debut during the Wanderers Test, and Jackson Bird – who has been the backup paceman to Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – have both made the list.

‘This period is set to include a significant amount of limited-overs cricket, including the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales,’ said national selector Trevor Hohns.

For that reason, there has been a bit of a focus in this contracting period on white-ball cricket, as we look ahead to trying to win back-to-back World Cups.’

Two new faces, Alex Carey and Jhye Richardson, have also been awarded national contracts by Cricket Australia.

Wicketkeeper Carey has five T20Is and one ODI to his name, while 21-year-old speedster Richardson has played one ODI and two T20Is.

‘Alex [Carey] is the second wicketkeeper in this squad, alongside Tim Paine,’ he added.

‘He is a promising young player who has had a strong domestic summer and performed well in his international opportunities to date with bat and gloves.

‘Jhye [Richardson] is a young fast bowler who has been on the fringe of selection in all three forms of the game.

‘He’s an exciting prospect who has played ODI and T20 cricket for Australia this summer, and was in the Test squad for the recent tour of South Africa.’

Australia’s contract list: Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matthew Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye

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