Australia: Ashes contenders miss out on central contracts Australia have announced their list of centrally contracted players for 2013-14 - with several recent Test players omitted from the 20-strong list. Jackson Bird, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith were all in the Test squad in India last month, but have missed out on contracts. Batsman Khawaja was one of four players controversially dropped for the third Test for a breach of discipline. Australia visit England this summer as the hosts look to defend the Ashes. Batsmen: George Bailey, Michael Clarke, Ed Cowan, Phillip Hughes, David Warner All-rounders: James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson Wicketkeepers: Brad Haddin, Matthew Wade Spin bowlers: Xavier Doherty, Nathan Lyon Seam bowlers: Patrick Cummins, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc There are only five established Test batsmen in the new list, including captain Michael Clarke and his deputy Shane Watson. Elevated to the centrally contracted list are batsmen Ed Cowan and Phillip Hughes, who both look set to feature in this summer's Ashes, and Twenty20 captain George Bailey, who has been a one-day international regular for the past year but has yet to play a Test. Also included were three one-day specialists - Glenn Maxwell, who made his Test debut in India, Clint McKay and James Faulkner, as well as seamers Patrick Cummins, Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus, who have all struggled with injury in recent months. National selector John Inverarity hinted that this summer's Ashes may come too soon for teenager Cummins - who has been restricted to only one Test appearance, in November 2011, because of various injuries. "He's tracking well, the one thing we're certainly not going to do is rush him," explained Inverarity. He's working on three fronts. Firstly, he's working on rehabilitating his back injury and the second thing is he's doing a lot of strength and conditioning and fitness work. The third thing, which he's doing a lot of work with [legendary Aussie pace bowler] Dennis Lillee on, is remodelling his action because his action had a lot of twists and turns in it. Batsman David Hussey, a limited-overs specialist who has played 69 ODIs and 39 T20 internationals. did not have his deal renewed. Hussey's brother Mike and ex-skipper Ricky Ponting, who have both retired from international cricket, were the other two players who were not retained from the 2013-14 panel. Cricket Australia contracted players 2013-14: Michael Clarke (Test & ODI captain), George Bailey (Twenty20 captain), Ed Cowan, Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson.