Smith and Warner Return for Australia's World Cup Squad

Cricket Australia has also announced the World Cup squad for the defending champions as the cut off date for squad announcements nears. The biggest news here is the return of Steve Smith and David Warner, who were banned for a year following ball-tampering charges at the Newlands.

The announcement for the 15-man squad came early on Monday.

Here is the squad:

Aaron Finch (c)	Alex Carey (wk)	Usman Khawaja	Shaun Marsh
Steve Smith	David Warner	Glenn Maxwell	Marcus Stoinis
Mitchell Starc	Jason Behrendorff	Nathan Coulter-Nile	Jhye Richardson
Adam Zampa	Nathan Lyon	Pat Cummins

Some of the surprise exclusions include Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Kane Richardson and Ashton Turner however, as they had to make way for the likes of David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson.

Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon have been retained as the two main spinners while Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Jhye Richardson will perform the fast-bowling duties. However, Starc and Richardson have been selected subject to fitness. If they are unable to show full fitness, the final squad can be changed till May 23.