With the most famous cricketing rivalry fast approaching, Australia unveiled a 17-man squad for the first three tests of this year's Ashes.
With the all-important World Test Championship final prior to the highly-anticipated England tour, Pat Cummins and co will be primed to be at their best and look to become the first Australian side to win an Ashes series on English soil since 2001.
George Bailey, chief selector for the Australian Men's national team announced the squads for the WTC final and Ashes series on the 19th of April. The list included the surprise inclusions of Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Harris, and Josh Inglis as the trio make their return to the longest format of the game.
"Marcus (Harris), Josh (Inglis, reserve keeper) and Mitch (Marsh) return to the squad and will provide valuable depth and flexibility within their respective skillsets," Bailey said.
With every squad announcement comes a set of players that have been snubbed, here in this article we take a closer look at those names and identify the reasonings behind their omissions.
1. Matthew Kuhnemann (Queensland)
Despite playing a key role in Australia's sole win on their tour of India, Kuhnemann has been snubbed for the Aussies' travels to England. In only his second test match, Kuhnemann was a nightmare for the Indian batsmen in Indore taking a fifer for just 16 runs in only 9 overs.
With the omission, it looks like Kuhnemann was only included because Australia was in need of spinning options in the subcontinent, and with no tours to the subcontinent on the horizon, the left-armer will have to wait till the next tour to Asia to prove his worth at the top level and was also therefore not provided with a national contract for this year.
Victorian Todd Murphy was preferred to Kuhnemann and is likely to join Nathon Lyon in case the Australian decides to field two spinners.
Also, playing County Cricket, last week Kuhnemann bowled Durham to a dramatic final-day victory against Worcestershire claiming 5/53 from 23.4 overs on day four of a high-scoring contest.
The Queenslander will look to keep his head down and utilize every opportunity he gets to prove that he is not to be overlooked in future series.
Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and Will Sutherland were also tipped to have been in contention for the Ashes campaign but untimely injuries have ruled the trio out. Cricket Australia will look to have the pacers on track to full fitness ahead of a big summer for Australian cricket.
