Cricket contracts revealed: Matt Kuhnemann, Beau Webster rewarded, Nathan McSweeney, Sam Konstas overlooked
Aussie spinner Matt Kuhnemann’s rollercoaster 12 months has been rewarded with a new CA contract, while some impressive names have been overlooked. DANIEL CHERNY with the details.
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Matt Kuhnemann’s rollercoaster start to 2025 has hit another peak with the left-arm spinner set to be part of Cricket Australia’s list of centrally contracted players for the first time.
Kuhnemann’s Tasmanian and Test teammate Beau Webster has also been rewarded with an Australian deal following his impressive entrance into Test cricket.
But Sheffield Shield winning-captain Nathan McSweeney will have to force his way back into the Test XI from the outside having been bypassed for a lucrative deal.
And Cooper Connolly, who made his Test debut in Galle earlier this year, will also need to bide his time after missing out.
CA will in the coming days unveil its list of contracted male players for the 2025-26 season, a window that takes in the mid-year tour of the West Indies, next summer’s home Ashes series, and a Twenty20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early in 2026, as well as a handful of other white-ball assignments.
Under the memorandum of understanding struck two years ago, CA can offer between 20 and 24 contracts.
However non-contracted players are still eligible for national selection and can be upgraded to full contracts should they reach a threshold of 12 points across the contracting period, with five points given per Test appearance and two each for one-day and T20 internationals.
Kuhnemann had triggered an upgrade by playing three Tests in India in 2023 but has never been on the annual list typically announced by CA after the men’s domestic season.
That will change after an extraordinary couple of months in which the tweaker overcame a fractured thumb to take 16 wickets across two Tests in Sri Lanka, only to then have his bowling action reported by match officials before eventually being cleared by biomechanical testing.
McSweeney, Connolly and Webster were among those that triggered upgrades over the 2024-25 season, as did T20 specialists Marcus Stoinis and Tim David, both of whom remain in the frame in Australia’s plans for next year’s World Cup.
After his unforgettable entrance into Test cricket over the summer, Sam Konstas is also in the frame for a maiden CA deal, but wholesale change is not expected following a largely successful 12 month period for the Aussies - particularly in the Test arena.
Todd Murphy, dropped for Connolly in Sri Lanka, has shaped as a likely omission from last year’s list.
On a state front, veteran Jackson Bird is likely to return to Tasmania from NSW, while young Blues all-rounder Hanno Jacobs is being linked with a move to South Australia.
CA is meanwhile looking at moving the Big Bash League draft to June in a bid to get ahead of rival overseas leagues.
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Originally published as Cricket contracts revealed: Matt Kuhnemann, Beau Webster rewarded, Nathan McSweeney, Sam Konstas overlooked
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