Wells and Duffield earn Western Australia contracts

Fast bowler Ryan Duffield and batsman Jonathan Wells are among the inclusions in Western Australia's contract list for the 2016-17 season. Opening batsman Jake Carder and fast bowler Josh Nicholas have also earned deals after making their first-class debuts last summer, while fast bowler Jhye Richardson and spinner Liam O'Connor have been upgraded from rookie contracts.

Batsman Tom Beaton has been left out from last year's list following a summer in which he played only three Sheffield Shield matches, while Marcus Harris has moved to Victoria and Matt Dixon has headed to Essex. Also gone from last year's group are Mitchell Johnson, who has retired from first-class cricket, and Michael Hogan, who has retired from Australian first-class cricket.

New rookies include the tall fast bowler Alex Bevilaqua, the allrounder Cameron Green, seamer Matthew Kelly and batsman Clint Hinchliffe, who was the Player of the Championships at the 2015-16 Under-19s Nationals. Hinchliffe, 19, is also a promising Australian rules footballer but missed out on selection in last year's AFL draft.

"We are very happy with the 2016-17 squad which continues to balance senior experience with some of the most talented young players in Australia," Ben Oliver, the WACA general manager high performance, said. "They are all great people and we are excited about the potential for this group to achieve success on and off the field over the coming years.

"We saw a snapshot of this success last season with eight players selected for Australia and four being awarded Cricket Australia contracts for 2016-17. This is something that everyone in WA cricket should be extremely proud of, while acknowledging that further national representation and a Sheffield Shield title are still to be achieved."

Western Australia squad Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Will Bosisto, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile (Cricket Australia contract), Ryan Duffield, Michael Klinger, Simon Mackin, Mitchell Marsh (CA), Shaun Marsh (CA), David Moody, Josh Nicholas, Liam O'Connor, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Rimmington, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Voges (CA), Jonathan Wells, Sam Whiteman.
Rookies Alex Bevilaqua, Kyle Gardiner, Cameron Green, Clint Hinchliffe, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly.