Shaun Marsh recalled, Hussey axed from T20 squad

Shaun Marsh, who finished as the highest run-scorer in the Big Bash League, was rewarded with a call-up to the Australian Twenty20 squad, while there was no place for David Hussey, the veteran batsman.

Several cricketers who did well in the Big Bash League are part of the 12-man squad that will take on Sri Lanka in two T20 Internationals on January 26 and 28. The squad is markedly different from the team that reached the semifinal of the World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka in September-October 2012, with as many as six new faces.

"Each of these six, Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner and Ben Laughli has shown outstanding form in the T20 format over the past two months," said John Inverarity, the chief selector.

"Their performances have been compelling and we anticipate they will take this momentum into the two fixtures scheduled for 26 and 28 January," he added.

Marsh finished the Big Bash League with 412 runs while Finch was the player of the tournament. Laughlin was the leading wicket-taker on 14, closely followed by Cutting, with 13 wickets. Cutting is the only player not to have previously represented Australia in the T20 format.

Inverarity said that David Hussey missed out because it came down to choosing between him and Glenn Maxwell, and that Cameron White, Australia's former T20 captain, wasn't selected since a number of younger players had performed better. Hussey was part of Australia's World T20 squad too, but did not get to play a major role, and wasn't part of the playing XI in a number of matches.

"We've just picked the best squad that we can," Inverarity said. "It was David Hussey or Glenn Maxwell and we've gone with Glenn Maxwell and some other younger players have performed better than Cameron White."

He added that Marsh's form had been "absolutely compelling".

"He's batted brilliantly and we all know how well he can play when he's in a good space and he seems to be in a very good space at the moment," said Inverarity.

Australia T20 squad: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, George Bailey (capt), Adam Voges, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Ben Laughlin, Xavier Doherty.