“We think David has retired and (he) deserves credit for having had an incredible career in all three formats,” Bailey said. “Of course, our plan is that he will not be in Pakistan.
“You never know when the bull is joking… I think he’s just poking around a little bit. He’s had a great career and you can’t celebrate it enough. As time goes on and we look back on the legacy of what he did for Australia, the legend of the player will continue to grow. But as this team moves forward and in all three formats, his transition journey to being a different player will be exciting.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone else who’s permanently got the line across besides David,” Bailey said. “That’s the way we’re going with this squad. I can’t say that if there’s an opportunity or a gap at another point, Wadi won’t come back, but certainly at this point we’re excited about giving Josh (Inglis) a chance.
“The next T20 World Cup is in 2026 and I think there could be more changes than what we have in the squad right now. But with those guys (Starc and Maxwell) in particular, I haven’t had any conversations about where they will finish their T20 journey.
“The Champions Trophy is definitely in front of Glenn and Mitch, (and) it’s a very important tournament for those guys. And Stacie in particular looks like he’s going to have a huge summer. Obviously some of the decisions around this series have to do with prioritizing and putting players in the right positions for what’s going to be a really big summer. We haven’t had that conversation in terms of finishing players and seeing where they finish.”
“The next T20 World Cup is in 2026 and I think there could be more changes in this squad than what we are seeing, but we haven’t had any conversations yet about those players (Starc and Maxwell) in particular.”
George Bailey, Australian selector
Bailey reflected on the T20 World Cup last month and said he was still frustrated that Australia had been undefeated until then, only to be crushed in just 36 hours after losing to Afghanistan and India.
“I still think the T20 team is the foundation and it’s a really, really good team,” he said. “I didn’t think we had to completely rip it all apart and start from scratch, but it’s also a good opportunity to start exploring other players. Cooper is one that hasn’t had a chance, there are a lot of players that have gone out on tour and played a game or two but haven’t had a big opportunity yet. It’s really nice to see them get a bit more opportunity and start figuring out how they fit into that team or that squad.”
He also praised the captaincy of Mitchell Marsh, who will lead both squads on the tour of England, with Pat Cummins missing the entire trip to recondition ahead of the domestic summer.
“The way he captained the team in the T20 World Cup was really good,” Bailey said. “He was really clear about how he wanted to lead the team. He was more disappointed than anyone that we didn’t reach the ultimate goal that we all wanted to achieve, but if you look at his early success as captain in the T20s, he’s done a really good job.”
Andrew McGlashan is the deputy editor of ESPNcricinfo.
