Heather Graham and Erin Burns received their maiden international call-ups, with Australia women naming a 14-member squad for the upcoming six-match limited-overs tour of the Caribbean, beginning on September 5.
Senior batsman Elyse Villani and spin-bowling allrounder Sophie Molineux, who were both part of the victorious Ashes touring party last month, missed out. Molineux, one of the stand-out performers in the one-off Test on the Ashes tour, has a shoulder injury, while Villani's exclusion comes in the wake of her non-selection through the seven-match multi-format Ashes.
Opener Nicole Bolton, who did tour the UK for the Ashes after missing the previous series against New Zealand as part of her five-month break from the game, was unavailable for selection for the West Indies tour that will feature three ODIs and three T20Is.
Products of Australia's robust domestic and pathway set-ups, 23-year-old Graham and 31-year-old Burns were both part of the Australia A squad that toured the UK last month.
Batting allrounder Graham was named Domestic Player of the Year in February on the back of an impressive season with Western Australia and Perth Scorchers. In the 50-over Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) last season, Graham scored 294 runs at an average of 49 including one century and three fifties. In the T20 format, too, she made a mark, picking 22 wickets at an average of 16.95 for Scorchers in the WBBL, to jointly top the wicket-takers' chart with Brisbane Heat's Delissa Kimmince.
Burns, who recently signed up for New South Wales (NSW) Breakers, meanwhile, is a more experienced campaigner. Having played her age-group cricket in her native NSW, she moved to Tasmania and more recently to the Australian Capital Territory in 2018-19, before switching back to NSW, who offered her a contract for the 2019-20 summer.
In the WNCL last season, Burns, who bowls offspin, took ten wickets at an average of 19.2 and finished fourth on the wickets tally. As a middle-order batsman, she was a big contributor as Sydney Sixers made the WBBL 2018-19 final, making 250 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 129.53. Burns stood out with her fielding, too, having memorably put in a desperate dive to deny a victory-securing boundary off the final ball in a humdinger of a semi-final.
Speaking of the uncapped pair's inclusion, national selector Shawn Flegler said, "Heather was named the Domestic Player of the Year last season and was a member of the National Performance Squad as well as Australia's 'A' tour to England, so we know exactly what she is capable of with both bat and ball. Her skills with the ball will add further depth to the team's pace bowling stocks while her batting ability could see her play an important role in the middle-order.
"Erin has also been a stand-out performer at domestic level and has had to bide her time for a national call-up. A handy middle-order batter, her off-spin will help to fill the void created by the omission of Sophie Molineux."
Flegler stressed that the plan was to try out a pool of uncapped players who could potentially stake a claim for a place in the squad for the home T20 World Cup next year.
"These selections reinforce our desire to select players with a view to the T20 World Cup next year, who offer versatility, can play a designated role and offer skills in a number of different facets of the game," she said. "Elyse unfortunately couldn't force her way into the playing XI in the recent Ashes series and the selection panel believes the first round of WNCL is an ideal opportunity for her to redefine her batting and present a strong case for selection ahead of a busy summer.
"Nicole has made herself unavailable for selection and we are working closely with her and the WACA to provide her the support she needs as she continues to manage her health.
"Sophie will also miss the tour to give her the opportunity to focus on her shoulder rehab after a large workload over the last seven weeks. With a big season ahead, including the World Cup, it's important she gets her body 100 per cent right and this break will hopefully allow her to do that."
Australia squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Rachael Haynes (vice-capt), Erin Burns, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Heather Graham, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham