Australia have trimmed their provisional 25-man squad for the Ashes series to a final 17. Here are the eight unlucky discards – and why.

Jackson Bird

• The seamer sought the advice of England’s Stuart Broad, who recently rose to seventh position among Test cricket’s leading wicket-takers. The insight of the Englishman only took him so far, though, as Bird was deemed surplus to requirement in a 17-man Ashes series squad lined with six specialist seamers.

Peter Handscomb

• The middle-order batsman, evidently, can’t quite get the selectors to back his ability entirely. He was not part of the initial World Cup squad, but was later drafted as an injury replacement – and played in the semi-final defeat to England.

Alex Carey

• The World Cup wicketkeeper-batsman is arguably the highest-profile omission from the squad. Plenty of pundits were convinced his superb form in ODI cricket would afford him graduation to the Test fold. Instead, the Aussies have gone for Matthew Wade as Tim Paine’s back-up.

Jon Holland

• National selector Trevor Hohns and company’s decision to not select an additional specialist spinner has seen the slow left-armer sidelined. The part-time leg-spin of Marnus Labuschagne, Hohns insists, will need to suffice as a secondary option to Nathan Lyon.

Chris Tremain

• In a squad blessed with the services of Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Michael Neser, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Peter Siddle, the lanky fast bowler was always going to find to genuinely justify a berth. Cummins, Starc and Pattinson, meanwhile, continue to rotate across a great bowling partnership – much like those detailed in this Betway infographic.

Joe Burns

• It’s tough to explain the exclusion of a man who averages 40 at the top of the order after 16 Tests, but David Warner’s return has put a pin in Burns’ career for now. For now, he’ll go down as a player who was overlooked despite scoring a superb 180 against Sri Lanka in his last Test just five months ago.

Kurtis Patterson

• If Handscomb was not going to crack the nod for a middle-order berth, then Patterson hardly had a hope. Australia have an abundance of talent at three, four, five and six in the order, but this left-hander just isn’t in favour at the moment.

Will Pucovski

• The 21-year-old opening batsman had been named in the Test squad previously, but was ultimately withdrawn due to mental health concerns. He was certainly in contention this time, too, particularly after a solid ton for Australia A against Gloucestershire late last month. Alas.

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