Owen handed maiden T20I call-up for West Indies series; Fraser-McGurk dropped

Mitchell Owen and Matt Kuhnemann have earned their maiden T20I call-ups as Australia announced a 16-man squad for the five-match series in West Indies next month. Notably, Jake Fraser-McGurk has been omitted from the squad.

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (C), Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa

McGurk, who has featured in seven of Australia's last-eight T20Is, has only made one fifty in his nascent career, failing to cross 20 in all remaining six innings. Xavier Bartlett and Marcus Stoinis have also been left out.

Owen, meanwhile, finished the latest season of the Big Bash League as the highest run-getter with a tally of 452 runs in 11 outings at an average of 45.20 and a staggering strike-rate of 203.6. He hit 108 from 42 deliveries in the final, guiding Hobart Hurricanes to the title and earning the PoTM.

Mitchell Marsh will lead the team following a high-scoring IPL season where he tallied 627 runs for Lucknow Super Giants in 13 innings, including a maiden tournament century.

Maxwell, recently retired from ODIs, has been named among the 16 while Tim David, who missed out the last handful of games for just-crowned IPL champions RCB, has also made the cut. Also returning to the shortest-format squad are Cameron Green and Cooper Connolly, after a brief injury layoff, and Josh Hazlewood who had been rested for the last T20I assignment against Pakistan.

The five-game series in Jamaica starts on July 19, immediately after the three-match Test series and therefore Australia have chosen to rest Pat Cummins, Travis Head and Mitchell Starc.

"We have a busy T20 schedule coming up through this series, followed by three against South Africa and New Zealand and five matches against India at home as we continue to refine and build a squad we think will be the right fit for the World Cup on the subcontinent," Chair of Selectors George Bailey said. "There are a number of players outside the squad who can still force their way into the mix for those upcoming Indian Series and through the Big Bash.

"The connection, role development and combinations we will have as options are growing nicely as we build towards the World Cup. It's an exciting time in our T20 space," he added.