Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis return to Australia squad for England tour
Uncapped trio Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and Josh Philippe also included in group for potential late summer tour
Thursday 16 July 2020 12:07, UK
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis have been named in a preliminary 26-man squad for Australia's provisional white ball tour of England in September.
Khawaja and Stoinis were included despite losing their national contracts after falling out of favour with selectors over the home summer.
Veteran paceman Andrew Tye was also a notable inclusion, having been left out of Western Australia's state contracts list.
Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile, who both featured in last year's World Cup squad, were omitted along with Victoria batsman Peter Handscomb.
The squad includes the uncapped trio of Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and Josh Philippe following their strong performances in Australia's Big Bash League.
Australia are likely to need to take a bigger squad to England given the logistical difficulties of sending injury replacements due to travel restrictions and border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus.
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Australia were initially scheduled to tour England for three one-day internationals and three T20Is this month but the series was postponed due to the pandemic.
Selector Trevor Hohns said Cricket Australia were doing all they could to ensure the tour of England could go ahead.
"We continue to work with the ECB and government agencies and a decision on the tour will be made in due course," he said in a statement.
"In the meantime, the identification of a preliminary list will enable us to work with players and states more directly on the preparation for the tour in the hope it can proceed."
