Winners and losers: Sam Konstas among five stars axed by Cricket Australia as brutal contract calls confirmed

Cricket Australia has announced its much anticipated contract list for 2026-27 and, as always, there are winners and losers.

After having 23 players on contracts last year, the governing body has slashed that to just 21.

Usman Khawaja has retired while Sam Konstas, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, and Matt Short have been axed from the list.

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Opening batter Jake Weatherald earns his first full-time contract, as does fast bowler Brendan Doggett, while Michael Neser and Todd Murphy are back on the list.

Australia faces a Test-heavy schedule and has stacked the contract list accordingly.

"We're going to go deep into our stocks just because of the way that schedule is, but it's exciting. It's an exciting time to be an Australian player," head coach Andrew McDonald said on SEN.

2026-27 Cricket Australia contact list: Xavier Bartlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Brendan Doggett, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa.

WINNERS

Pat Cummins and Travis Head

The Age reports a big reason for Cricket Australia culling the number of contracts this year is to be able to pay Cummins and Head more.

CA knows it has to fork out to keep the star fast bowler and swashbuckling all-formats batter in international cricket and away from lucrative private contracts in white ball cricket.

For example, Australia has two Test matches scheduled against Bangladesh at the same time England's The Hundred will be played.

"Some of our guys are saying no to half a million pounds for 20 days' work to go and play those two Test matches against Bangladesh," Cummins recently said on the Business of Sport podcast.

"I think it is a tension point. At the moment our guys are so keen to play for Australia that they're happy to forgo that, but I don't think we can accept that that is going to be the case forever."

Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser

While Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Scott Boland are the premier fast bowlers in the country, Doggett and Neser are now officially the next-in-lines.

Doggett came from the clouds over the summer and made his Test debut in the Ashes opener against England in Perth. He played two matches and took seven wickets to announce himself as a genuine Test-class bowler.

Neser, 36, has been unlucky to only wear the baggy green five times given his form at Sheffield Shield level for a long time.

He's been stuck behind the aforementioned fast-bowling brigade for years, but was recalled for the dead rubber SCG Test against England and reminded selectors he still has plenty to offer the Aussie team.

Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann

Nathan Lyon remains Australia's premier spin bowler but at 38 years old and following an injury-riddled summer, is closer to the end of his career than the start.

And with a tour of India looming, Australia has gone spin-heavy with the contract list with both Murphy and Kuhnemann landing deals.

Murphy was dumped from the list last year but finds himself back on it thanks to some solid domestic form.

Kuhnemann played the last of his five Tests in Sri Lanka last February and offers a point of difference given he spins the ball away from a right-hander.

LOSERS

Sam Konstas

It's been a wild ride for the boom Sydney youngster since his whirlwind Test debut against India at the MCG a year and a bit ago.

He belted 60 and stood up to Indian superstars Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli on that occasion as he announced himself to the world as a prodigious cricket talent.

But Konstas, then a teenager, was bizarrely dropped for the subsequent tour to Sri Lanka as well as the World Test Championship, before being recalled to play a series against the West Indies in which he failed to get past 25.

He was then overlooked for Australia's Ashes campaign and now finds himself without a CA contract, forced to work his way back up from state cricket.

Just last week Aussie great Mark Taylor questioned the handling of Konstas since that debut 15 months ago.

"I'd give him a contract, absolutely," Taylor said on Nine's Wide World of Sports.

"It probably actually doesn't matter. He's only 20 years old, and he's had what is commonly known as second-year blues. I don't think they have handled him all that well, they should have taken him to Sri Lanka and he should have opened the batting, but didn't. He went to the West Indies where the ball nipped around and no one made runs, including him, now he's out of the side.

"He's got it, not doubt about it. He is 20 years old, he is part of the future of Australian cricket. I'd like to see him work on his fielding, to become a good slipper or a good fielder somewhere, to add to the fact that he can bat. If he can do that he's got a long career ahead of him."

Jhye Richardson

The fast bowler has been cut and Richardson is perhaps the most luckless player in Australian cricket.

The 29-year-old has long been considered a next-in-line to the likes of Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc and Boland when it comes to Test selection.

But he has been cruelled by injuries over the years and, despite making a Test comeback against England at the MCG in December, now finds himself without a contract.

That was the fourth Test match of Richardson's career, after making his debut five years earlier.

"There are few players Cricket Australia have invested so much time or money in to keep him on the field," respected journalist Bharat Sundaresan said on SEN on Wednesday.

If Richardson can get his body in order and find his best bowling again he still has time to get back in Test consideration.

Western Australian speed demon Lance Morris is the other fast bowler to make way for Doggett and Neser.

Cooper Connolly

Along with Konstas, Connolly is considered one of Australian cricket's rising stars but he finds himself without a contract for the next 12 months.

He received the news just before belting 72 off 44 balls in his Indian Premier League debut overnight.

The 22-year-old made his Test debut in Sri Lanka last year and has played 19 white ball matches for Australia over the past 18 months.

But he has struggled with stepping up to international level in all formats, returning just 28 runs at 4.66 from 11 T20 matches for Australia.

Like Konstas, he has the talent to work his way back onto the contract list and is still expected to be an important long-term player for Australia in multiple formats.