Cricket Australia confirm contract list for 2025-26: Sam Konstas promotion puts pressure on Marnus Labuschagne

Sam Konstas has landed his first Cricket Australia contract in a move which has left Marnus Labuschagne’s Test future hanging by a thread. Full contract list here.

Sam Konstas has landed his first Cricket Australia contract in a move which has left Marnus Labuschagne’s Test future hanging by a thread.

Konstas, the teenage enigma whose tearaway tactics lit up the Boxing Day Test and polarised critics, has been included in a 23-man list announced today.

As revealed by this masthead, Webster and spinner Matt Kuhnemann were given contracts but fringe batsmen Cooper Connolly and Nathan McSweeney were not.

Kuhnemann has usurped Todd Murphy, who was not given a contract, as Australia’s back-up spinner to Nathan Lyon while Aaron Hardie and Sean Abbott also failed to get a deal.

Konstas’ promotion is a clear sign that, despite his omission from the Test side in Sri Lanka, Australia has plans to recall him as soon as the World Test Championship against South Africa at Lord’s in June.

Travis Head, who opened in Sri Lanka, is expected to drop down the list at Lord’s.

Allrounder Cameron Green missed the summer following back surgery but is likely to be back in the selection equation as a specialist batsman, by Lord’s.

Sam Konstas is officially on the Cricket Australia contract list. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Green, who will not bowl until next summer, will have a five match English county stint with Gloucestershire as a specialist batsman to prove his fitness for the Lord’s Test.

The selectors may have to decide whether to choose Green, a key player of the present and future but short of match play, or Labuschagne, experienced, committed but still out of form after managing just one century in his last 27 Tests.

Selection chairman George Bailey said the World Test Championship would be viewed as a “one off game’’ in English conditions and the West Indies squad which followed it may look different and the selectors would not be rushed into early decisions.

“We have time around that,‘’ Bailey said.

“We have got Cam Green returning and hopefully that continues to track well. Along with Sam, Josh Inglis performed really well … we will work through that in the coming months. We have options.

He said of Konstas: “We know he is at the start of a journey and looks like a very exciting journey. We have half an eye to the future and we think he has a bright future.’’

Given that the Test championship will not be part of a longer tour and the bowlers could be underdone it is likely that Tasmanian allrounder Beau Webster will be retained to bowl his supplementary seamers.

Labuschagne is awaiting the birth of his second child before heading to England to play for Glamorgan so English county form could be decisive in the choice between he and Green.

It could be Marnus Labuschagne or Cameron Green for the World Test Championship final. Picture: Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Australia has cast its net widely looking for the next generation of fast bowlers with a large group of back-up quicks such as Nathan Ellis and Xavier Bartlett landing deals in a big year for white ball cricket.

Mitchell Marsh, who dropped out of the Test team, was retained on the list given his continued duties for Australia in white ball cricket.

“Matt was outstanding once again in Sri Lanka and we believe he can play a key role across the next 18 months,’’ Bailey said.

“In Beau’s case he proved more than comfortable at Test level with bat and ball, adds an additional dimension in the field and to the balance of the side.‘’

Originally published as Cricket Australia confirm contract list for 2025-26: Sam Konstas promotion puts pressure on Marnus Labuschagne