SYDNEY: Despite the fact that the series clashes with the ILT20 tournament, where he is signed to captain Dubai Capitals, Australia’s chair of selectors, George Bailey, believes David Warner will be eligible to play in three T20Is against the West Indies in February.
Warner has retired from Test and ODI cricket for Australia, but he has agreed to participate in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States in June.
Warner intends to participate in the ILT20, which begins on January 20, shortly after the home and away portion of the BBL concludes, with his Sydney Thunder missing finals to avoid a schedule clash. The competition runs till February 18, however the three Twenty20 Internationals against the West Indies begin on February 9 and conclude on February 18.
Warner was expected to miss those matches in order to play in the entire ILT20, while still having a Cricket Australia contract, and to return for the following series against New Zealand in New Zealand, which begins on February 21.
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However, Bailey stated that Warner has been selected for the West Indies series and will be expected to participate.
“He’ll be part of those T20 matches at the back end of the summer and in New Zealand as well,” he added.
Bailey reiterated that CA signed players, such as Warner, are expected to play for Australia when called up and will not be granted NOCs to play in other leagues at the same time.
“I believe that is true for all of our Australian contracted players.” “If they’re going to be picked for a squad, they’re available,” Bailey explained. “If they aren’t, it depends on the nature of their domestic cricket responsibilities.” So I believe [Warner] mentioned it as one of the reasons he decided to retire from one-day cricket, but we’re still enthusiastic about what he can provide to that T20 team and hope he can add one more major prize to his collection.
Bailey and CA’s head of national teams, Ben Oliver, are in charge of deciding which players receive NOCs and have a consistent policy of treating each situation differently.
T20I-only players from Australia who are not centrally contracted, such as Matthew Wade and Tim David, have recently been allowed to miss international series in order to complete franchise contracts that they would potentially lose if they played international cricket. Except for match fees from CA, the exceptions were made since they would not get the same remuneration.
Wade was initially rested from Australia’s T20I series in South Africa last year in order to play a full season in the Hundred, but he was flown in at the last minute as cover after Glenn Maxwell was injured.
Despite being CA-contracted players, Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis were both cleared to participate in the ILT20 last year, and they were only due to miss a modest number of domestic List A games for their respective state sides while they were away.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald stated last month that given the tight timeframe, Australia’s selectors needed to be more flexible with their players.
