No place for Jhye Richardson as Cricket Australia announces central contracts for 2026-27 season

Right-arm speedster Jhye Richardson has been omitted as Cricket Australia (CA) has announced its list of centrally contracted players for the 2026-27 season. Richardson, 29, was a part of Australia's playing XI, which squared off against their Ashes rivals England in the Boxing Day Test last year at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

This comes across as a fairly disappointing development for the fast bowler from Western Australia who worked his way through the Test team after spending almost a year on the sidelines. Richardson underwent surgery on his bowling shoulder in January last year to fix the recurring shoulder dislocations. He was also a part of Perth Scorchers' BBL 2025-26 winning squad and played a crucial role in their six-wicket win over Sydney Sixers in the summit clash, claiming figures of 3/32.

Meanwhile, Jake Weatherald, who made his Test debut during the recently concluded Ashes, has been added to the central contracts alongside off-spinner Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, and Brendan Doggett, who were all a part of the Ashes squad at some stage during the series.

Neser was the third leading wicket-taker for Australia during the Ashes with 15 wickets in three Tests at an average of 19.93, including two four-fers and a five-wicket haul.

Doggett claimed seven wickets in two games, and Murphy's inclusion alongside slow left-arm orthodox bowler Matthew Kuhnemann signals Australia's contingency plan for their away series in Bangladesh and India as a part of the ongoing ICC Men's World Test Championship cycle.

Among other notable absentees is batting allrounder Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell's omission comes along expected lines as he is only active in T20Is and Australia only have five T20Is to play in the next contract cyle.

CA men's central contracts 2026-27

Xavier Bartlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Brendan Doggett, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa

New entrants: Brendan Doggett, Jake Weatherald, Michael Neser, Todd Murphy

Those who are left out: Usman Khawaja (retired), Sam Konstas, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Matt Short