Cummins ruled out of T20 World Cup; Short dropped for Renshaw, no room for Smith

Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the 2026 T20 World Cup because of his back injury, and Ben Dwarshuis has replaced him in Australia's final 15. Matthew Short, meanwhile, has been dropped and has been replaced by Matt Renshaw on form, and there is no place for Steven Smith but he remains in contention if an injury occurred.

Josh Hazlewood, Tim David and Nathan Ellis have all be passed fit for the World Cup. Hazlewood has not played since injuring his hamstring and Achilles prior to the Ashes. David missed most of the BBL and the Pakistan series because of a hamstring injury, while Ellis missed the BBL finals and the Pakistan tour with a hamstring niggle.

Cummins had initially been named in Australia's provisional 15-man squad with a view to carrying him through the early rounds while he continued to rebuild from his back injury. He has not played since the Adelaide Test against England in mid-December, which was his only game since last July, when he initially had symptoms of a lumbar stress injury in his lower back.

He was shut down after the Adelaide Test with the Ashes secured with a view to rebuilding for the T20 World Cup. His latest scans in January had been positive but Cricket Australia said Cummins "needs more time" to recovery fully. ESPNcricinfo understands he is likely to be fully fit by the IPL.

Dwarshuis comes into the squad after he was unlucky to be left out of the provisional 15 and provides a left-arm-pace option.

Short has been dropped owing to poor form and the need for another left-hand batter, who will be better equipped to handle spin in the middle overs. Renshaw, who only made his T20I debut on Friday in Pakistan, has been added after several years of excellent white-ball form at domestic and BBL level. He also performed well on ODI debut against India in Australia late last year, impressing against India's spinners in particular.

"With Pat needing more time to recover from his back injury, Ben is a ready replacement who offers a left-arm-pace option as well as dynamic fielding and late-order hitting," Australia selector Tony Dodemaide said. "We believe his ability to swing the ball at good pace along with clever variations will be well suited to the conditions we expect and overall structure of the squad.

"Matt has impressed in all formats of late, including in multiple roles in white ball formats for Australia, the Queensland Bulls and the Brisbane Heat.

"With the top order settled and spin heavy conditions expected in the pool stages in Sri Lanka, we also feel Matt provides extra middle-order support, with Tim David completing his return-to-play programme in the early phase of the tournament.

"As a left-hander, he [Renshaw] also offers a point of difference to the middle order batting."

That meant no room for Smith. His stunning BBL form had led to calls from many quarters for him to be recalled to Australia's T20I side for the World Cup after not having played T20I cricket since March 2024 - he was left out of the 2024 T20 World Cup campaign too. But the selectors have told him that he remained in contention if an injury cropped up.

"Steve is an exceptional player who has worked very hard on his short-form game and was rewarded with a great stint in the Big Bash batting at the top for the Sixers," Dodemaide said. "The current T20 top order has been very successful building into this tournament so we feel we're well-placed in that area.

"If a replacement is required Steve is very much in contention and this has been communicated with him."

Smith is seen as a non-bowling opener only, having not bowled in a T20 since 2019. Since his last T20I, Smith has played 25 T20 innings across MLC, the Hundred and the BBL, all as opener. He's scored two hundreds and six fifties, averaging 49.73 and striking at 156.19. Renshaw, meanwhile, has played 20 T20s batting at Nos. 3-5. He has one century and one half-century, averaging 34.38 but has struck at 159.94. He also bowled his part-time offspin in eight BBL games in the most recent season, taking five wickets at 19.4 with an economy rate of 6.84.

Australia have a settled opening combination in skipper Mitchell Marsh and vice-captain Travis Head, and Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell have both had success opening the batting in T20I cricket. Maxwell has scored a T20I century opening the batting in Pallekele in 2016, which is the venue that Australia will face Sri Lanka in the group stage. Maxwell opened in the Caribbean last year in the absence of Head when West Indies tried to attack Australia with spin in the powerplay.

Maxwell is also notionally the reserve wicketkeeper in the 15 despite having never kept in a professional match. Josh Inglis is the sole wicketkeeper picked in the 15-man squad but Australia will have former keeper-batter Matthew Wade at the World Cup as part of the coaching staff. Wade is still playing in the BBL with Hobart Hurricanes and is rumoured to be taking his playing kit in case of an emergency despite having retired from international cricket after the 2024 World Cup.

Australia squad for T20 World Cup 2026

Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa