Who'll make the cut, and who'll miss out?

First of all, a look at the highest run-scorers and wicket-takers for Australia from May 1, 2008, the period from which the 2008-09 contracts started. There are five who've scored more than 1000, and apart from Simon Katich, they're all names who've played in more than one form of the game. The others in the top nine haven't quite played as many games, but Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, David Hussey and Andrew Symonds are all shoo-ins as well. (It's also remarkable that Johnson is seventh in the run-scoring chart, which isn't even his primary area of expertise.)

Most runs for Australia in all three forms since May 1, 2008

Batsman	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike rate	100s/ 50s
Michael Clarke	41	1945	42.28	54.22	5/ 11
Michael Hussey	42	1806	39.26	55.44	1/ 16
Ricky Ponting	37	1742	35.55	66.89	3/ 11
Brad Haddin	42	1717	35.77	65.43	2/ 8
Simon Katich	15	1389	53.42	48.65	5/ 7
Shane Watson	18	726	38.21	66.42	2/ 2
Mitchell Johnson	38	678	22.60	64.32	1/ 2
Andrew Symonds	15	674	39.64	68.35	0/ 7
David Hussey	28	664	26.56	93.52	0/ 5

(Click here for the full list.)

Johnson also heads the list for most number of wickets during this period, and the numbers illustrate just how far ahead of the pack he was - next in the wicket-takers tally is Brett Lee, with less than half the number than Johnson nabbed. Overall, though, it's difficult to argue against the inclusion of any of the top eight wicket-takers.

Most wickets for Australia in all three forms since May 1, 2008

Bowler	Matches	Wickets	Average	Econ rate	5WI
Mitchell Johnson	38	107	25.76	3.39	3
Brett Lee	17	46	36.10	3.51	2
Nathan Bracken	30	33	32.69	4.73	0
James Hopes	34	32	31.53	4.87	0
Peter Siddle	9	32	26.21	2.63	1
Stuart Clark	13	30	23.70	2.49	1
Ben Hilfenhaus	17	25	37.72	4.11	0
Nathan Hauritz	14	25	30.28	3.24	0

(Click here for the full list.)

Next, the bunch of certainties for the contract can be divided in terms of those who have proved their worth in all three forms of the game, and those who've excelled in either the Tests or in the limited-overs format.

The all-round achievers: Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Stuart Clark.

The Test specialists: Simon Katich, Phil Hughes, Peter Siddle, Marcus North

As the table below indicates, they've all done enough to justify their places in the next contracts list.

The limited-overs specialists: David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz.

The stats of all these players are listed below. Most of them have been pretty consistent, and it's difficult to reject the case for any of them.

That makes it 19 out of 25 names in the bag. The last few is always the tricky bit, and here are the list of performances of the 17 other players (excluding Matthew Hayden and Stuart MacGill, who've announced their retirement) who did Australian duty over the last one year.

Among the names listed below, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger and Shaun Tait should make the cut, the first two on the basis of performance, and the third on the basis of the promise he holds for the future. There are still question marks over Cameron White's bowling, but he has been in the thoughts of the selectors often enough to suggest he will find a place.

Those four names bring the tally up to 23, which leaves the last two places to fill up. Will the selectors take a punt on David Warner in a season which has the World T20 coming up in a month? In five Twenty20 internationals last season, Warner averaged 35.40 at an excellent strike rate of 155.40. Phil Jaques is a good bet if his back is in shape again, but if the selectors look outside this list and into domestic performances, Chris Rogers could have a chance too: he scored 1195 runs in 11 first-class games at an averaged of 74.68 last season.

Possible list of contracted players for 2009-10 season
Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Stuart Clark, Simon Katich, Phil Hughes, Peter Siddle, Marcus North, David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz, Cameron White, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Shaun Tait, Phil Jaques, David Warner/ Chris Rogers.