Cricket Australia announced central contracts for the Australian men's cricket team but the omission of all-rounder Marcus Stonis from the list of 23 players came as a big surprise. Four new faces have been added to the list. Xavier Bartlett who has represented the national side in just three matches was included in the list alongside Matt Short, Aaron Hardie and pacer Nathan Ellis.

Bartlett has received the contract for the first time while the other players had been signed in the contract list previously as they had played for Australia in the limited overs format and the T20Is. The contract will officially come into effect after the T20I World Cup in the USA and West Indies in June 2024, left-handed opener David Warner also is excluded from the list as he is about to announce retirement after the event.

All-rounder Marcus Stonis, who lost his place in the national side last year during the limited-overs World Cup is in the mix to play the T20 World Cup but has been excluded from the central contract list. Off-spinner Ashton Agar, Michale Nesser and Marcus Harris have also been excluded from the list.

Right-handed batter Tim David who is a T20 specialist wasn't included in the list while pacer Jhye Richardson who hasn't played since June 2022 was included in the list.  Left-handed batter Matt Renshaw who was included in the squad after David Warner announced his retirement was excluded from the list.

Cricket Australia (CA) contracted players list for the year 2024-25: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Cameroon Green, Scott Boland, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Matt Short.