Australia pace bowler Kane Richardson could be heading for a freelance T20 career after being omitted from the Queensland contract list meaning he will be without a state deal next season.

Richardson, 32, has played 25 ODIs and 35 T20Is, the most recent of which came in last season's T20 World Cup against Afghanistan. He may still be in Australia's plans for next year's tournament in West Indies and the United States.

Having relocated to live on the Gold Coast with his family last year he moved from South Australia to Queensland but made just two Marsh Cup appearances. He has not played first-class cricket since 2020.

Richardson did not put his name forward for the most recent IPL auction but he is due to join Kent for the upcoming T20 Blast. In last season's BBL with Melbourne Renegades he claimed 12 wickets in 12 matches with an impressive economy rate of 7.10.

Elsewhere on the Queensland men's contract list Sam Heazlett, who made a shock ODI appearance for Australia in 2017, has also lost his spot. Heazlett was the surprise name for a tour of New Zealand and played the ODI in Auckland where Marcus Stoinis almost won the match with a spectacular 146 not out.

However, since making his first-class debut in 2015 he has averaged 29.82 across 41 matches although his List A numbers are much better with a return of 42.58 and three hundreds in 35 games.

Sam Truloff and Matthew Willans have also dropped off the list.

"The four players going off the list certainly remain in our selection plans going forward,'' Bennett King, Queensland Cricket's general manager of high performance said.

"Each of them has had the chance for in-depth discussions with our coaching staff and selectors about where things sit leading into the coming season and what we will be looking for from them in Premier Cricket,''

Ben McDermott is the most significant addition to the Queensland squad. Aryan Jain, who made his Sheffield Shield debut last season, has also earned a deal while there are rookie contracts for Hugh Weibgen and Tom Whitney.

Queensland men's contracts 2023-24 Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Hugo Burdon (R), Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Blake Edwards, Liam Guthrie, Aryan Jain, Usman Khawaja (CA), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne (CA), Ben McDermott, Michael Neser (CA), Jimmy Peirson, Will Prestwidge (R), Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Jack Sinfield (R), Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully, Mitch Swepson, Hugh Weibgen (R), Tom Whitney (R), Jack Wildermuth

CA = Cricket Australia contract, R = Rookie contract