Australia’s chair of selectors George Bailey expects David Warner will be available to play in three T20Is against West Indies in February. Warner has retired from Test and ODI cricket for Australia but is committed to playing in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and US during June. Warner is planning to play in the ILT20 starting on January 20, which ends on February 18. It was thought that Warner would miss those matches to play in the entire ILT20. Despite still holding a Cricket Australia contract, Bailey confirmed that Warner is set to be selected for the West Indies series and will be expected to play. CA contracted players are expected to play for Australia when selected and won’t be granted NOCs to play in other leagues at the same time. Bailey and CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver are charged with making decisions on which players are granted NOCs and have been consistent in their policy of treating each individual case differently. Australian T20I-only players are allowed to miss international series if they would potentially lose franchise contracts, as they would not receive the same remuneration except for match fees from CA. Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis were both cleared to go to the ILT20 last year despite being CA-contracted players. Australia coach Andrew McDonald said that Australia’s selectors had to be more flexible with their players given the cramped schedule.
