By RAJDEEP SINGH PURI,
sports editor

Steve Smith and David Warner are returning to the Australian15-member squad for the ICC World Cup 2019, announced today, after serving their one year bans for ball tampering. 

Aaron Finch, who has led the side during Smith's ban, will continue to do so in the World Cup. 

National selector Trevor Hohns said Smith and Warner were "world class players" and it was "pleasing to see them produce some good form in the IPL”.

“Given the depth of talent and competition for spots there were a number of tough calls we had to make to settle on our squad of 15,” he told Fox Sports.

Josh Hazlewood misses out as he continues to recover from a stress fracture a few months ago. 

Peter Handscomb and Ashton Turner miss out from the squad as well. The two players had toured India and UAE earlier this year.

Australia will kick off their campaign against Afghanistan on June 1, 2019. 

Squad: Aaron Finch(C), Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile