Glenn Maxwell back as Australia name 26-man preliminary squad for England tour

With the first Test between England and West Indies being conducted smoothly and the potential of the rest of the series along with matches against Pakistan and Ireland happening in a very profligate manner, Australia, the next team in line, have started their preparations. The Cricket Australia announced a 26-man touring party to partake in the national camp ahead of the English tour, the itinerary of which is yet to be announced.

While Glenn Maxwell, who hasn't played for Australia since last October, has made it to the probables, the likes of Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile failed to make the cut despite being in Australia’s World Cup squad. Meanwhile, Victoria’s Marcus Stoinis, after having been dropped from Australia's limited-overs squads recently, is back in the squad to reignite his hopes of resurrecting his fledgeling career.

Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Michael Neser, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, D'Arcy Short, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Australia's preliminary squad

"We continue to work with the ECB and government agencies and a decision on the tour will be made in due course. 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,” Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of National Teams, said, reported Cricbuzz.

"The health and well-being of players and staff, along with our commitment to public health within our communities, remain our utmost priority."

While the major reason behind the extensive list is to ensure contingencies in case any untoward incident happens, but as chief selector Trevor Hohns stated, to keep an eye on the two upcoming World Cups.

"This preliminary list covers the contingencies of playing One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals in bio-secure hubs with the likely prospect of not being able to bring in replacements should the tour proceed.

"The preliminary list includes several exciting young players who have recently excelled at state level and in the BBL... are among those we would like to develop further as we believe they have a bright future in Australian cricket. The preliminary list also has a view towards the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and in the longer term the 2023 ICC World Cup."