Jess Jonassen has been left out of Australia’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, with the 105-match veteran overlooked for fellow spinner Sophie Molineux. Jonassen is the highest-profile name missing from Australia’s 15-woman squad announced on Monday, with the defending champions at full strength for the UAE tournament.
Alyssa Healy will captain Australia to a World Cup for the first time, while Molineux and quick Tayla Vlaeminck are both in after a number of injury-ravaged years. Australia will take three spinners, with well-established players Georgia Wareham and Ashleigh Gardner also picked.
Young batter Phoebe Litchfield will play in her first World Cup, while Vlaeminck is joined by Darcie Brown as the two out-and-out quicks in the squad. Jonassen was left out of Australia’s white-ball tour to Bangladesh earlier this year, but had made a strong case for a recall in franchise cricket since then.
She will miss out on a T20 World Cup for the first time since her debut in 2012, having featured in five tournament wins since then.
“Jess Jonassen is again unlucky to miss out,” chief selector Shawn Flegler said. “But we’ve been impressed with the way she’s bounced back, and we’ll continue to monitor her form ahead of the home summer.”
“This is the first time in a long time we’ve had our entire contract list available for selection ahead of a World Cup and it’s resulted in a really stable and balanced squad.”
Flegler said Litchfield was “a real x-factor” within an experienced squad, while pace duo Vlaeminck and Brown would prove “a real point of difference” for the team.
The same squad will face New Zealand in the three-match T20 series in Queensland next month, before their World Cup opener against Sri Lanka on 4 October.
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Australia squad: Alyssa Healy, Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck.