Cricket Australia (CA) has released its list of contracted players for the 2023–24 season in advance of the new campaign.
The 17-member list has grown by four cricketers, as Kim Garth, Heather Graham, and Phoebe Litchfield have all received offers for their maiden contracts. Grace Harris, who recently caused havoc in the WPL 2023, has also been added after upgrading her contract from the previous season.
Rachael Haynes, a recently retired cricket player, withdraws, while it’s noteworthy to note that Tasmanian all-rounder Nicola Carey has turned down the offer made to her.
“We’ve had a core group of players doing well over the previous 12 months, which has resulted in some quality individuals missing out. It’s definitely made selection difficult, but we’re in a fortunate situation to have such depth across Australian cricket.
Shawn Flegler, a national selector, said in a statement: “Importantly, there is still the chance for players not offered contracts to earn promotions through consistent performances, as we saw with Grace last year.
Flegler gave an explanation of why Carey rejected a new contract.
According to Flegler, Nicola Carey stated that she wanted to spend the winter in Tasmania and use the entire offseason to improve her game. He believed that she wanted to prepare herself for international cricket first, then push for selection to the national squad later in her career.
“Carey indicated a wish to spend the winter in Tasmania in order to take full advantage of a home preseason and concentrate on using that time to improve her game in order to push for future international selection. Because we think Nic is a player of international caliber, we extended her a contract, but we understand her decision to concentrate on Tasmania’s preseason program and will support her going forward.
She has been a part of the team for some time, but she hasn’t participated in many games, so she wanted to concentrate on having a fantastic preseason with Tasmania. That, in her opinion, would be her best course of action. She made it plain that she hasn’t ruled out playing for Australia again, according to Flegler.
Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, and Georgia Wareham are the women who Cricket Australia has contracted for the 2023–24 season.