Cricket-Stoinis still keen to represent Australia despite loss of central contract

Cricket – ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – England v Australia – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India – November 4, 2023 Australia’s Marcus Stoinis in action REUTERS/Andrew Boyers

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Marcus Stoinis’s desire to keep playing international cricket beyond the T20 World Cup in June has not been diminished by Cricket Australia’s decision to drop him from the central contracts list, the all-rounder said.

Stoinis looks certain to be named in Australia’s squad for the World Cup in West Indies and the United States, and the Lucknow Super Giants batter provided a glimpse of his best form with a blistering hundred in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old smashed an unbeaten 124 off 63 balls as Lucknow beat hosts Chennai Super Kings by six wickets to break into the top four in the points table.

Named Player of the Match, Stoinis did not want to describe his performance as a statement knock and said he had a great relationship with Australia coach Andrew McDonald.

“Me not getting a contract, I knew that a while ago,” Stoinis said after Lucknow’s fifth win in eight matches.

“I think it’s great to give younger kids a crack and let them take my spot. I’m absolutely fine with that on the contract list.

“But on the playing front, I still obviously want to make sure that I’m there, and that’s also why it’s so lucky for us and for me particularly to have this competition (the IPL)…

“I started my career pretty much here and who knows I finish it here.”

Stoinis was promoted to number three after Lucknow lost Quinton de Kock in the first over, allowing the Australian to pace his innings.

“In this competition, there are plenty of better opening batters than me, so I’ll let them do their job,” he said.

“It is nice to get in early and build an innings but I have settled in the middle order.”

Stoinis smashed six sixes and 13 fours in his knock but it was not mindless slogging, he said.

“There was ebb and flow in the whole innings. There were some bowlers we wanted to target, some that we played more cautiously against.”

Five-time champions Chennai slipped to fifth following their fourth loss in eight matches.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)