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Couldn't live with it: Richardson's big IPL call

No IPL regrets for Kane Richardson as he vies for a spot in the Australia XI for Friday's first T20I

Giving up a lucrative Indian Premier League contract was a no-brainer for Kane Richardson, with the Australian pace bowler unsure he would be able to forgive himself if he missed the birth of his first child.

Richardson was bought by the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs4 crore in last December's auction – a deal now worth some A$745,000 – but the bowler will instead head home to Adelaide to be with his wife Nyki, after serving his quarantine period, when Australia's limited-overs tour of England concludes later this month.

The challenges involved with international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic mean getting home would not necessarily be as simple as catching the first flight from the United Arab Emirates, where the delayed IPL is being held.

"It's always difficult to withdraw from a competition like the IPL, it's the pinnacle domestic competition in the world so it wasn't an easy decision, but when I sat down and thought about it, it was definitely the right one," Richardson said from Southampton on Wednesday.

"With all that's going on in the world at the moment and the challenge of getting home on time for something as unpredictable as the birth of a child, I couldn't risk missing that.

"I'm disappointed to miss the IPL but hopefully there are opportunities ahead for that.

"I don't think I'd be able to live with missing the birth of my first child … I can be home and support my wife as best I can, and hopefully those (cricket) opportunities come around again."

Carey, Labuschagne shine in T20 warm-up games

Australia begin their T20 campaign against England on Friday night (3am Saturday morning AEST) and Richardson is one of a group of pace bowlers battling to be the third quick behind Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.

Richardson is the incumbent in Australia's T20 XI, but the spot remains up for debate.

The South Australian produced mixed results in the practice matches, but so too did the other candidates for the position – Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott, AJ Tye and the uncapped Daniel Sams and Riley Meredith.

After playing in each of the nine T20 matches Australia have played since last October, a period in which he took 10 wickets and bowled at an economy rate of 6.64 as Australia dropped just one match, Richardson hoped his record would stand him in good stead.

"Coming off five months of doing nothing you don't really know until we start, but if I look back in the last 12 months, I feel like I've done the job in the games we've played," he said.

"It's been a nice period for our T20 team and it's been nice personally to be part of it.

"You never feel 100 per cent comfortable behind those guys but hopefully my name is called Friday night and I can come in and do a job.

"But there's a fair group of fast bowlers here with a big touring party so I'm sure whoever gets the nod will do a really good job behind those two."

Watch all 17 sixes from Australia’s T20 run fest

Richardson's 10 overs across three T20 warm-up matches yielded 4-90, in comparison to Tye's 4-66 from eight, and Sam's 5-75 from nine.

"Everyone's individual strengths are so different to each other, AJ (Tye) is known for his knuckle balls and variation but he's got a new action now and by all reports is bowling a little quicker," Richardson said.

"Everyone brings a little variety in their own individual strengths or weapons and that's what you want in a bowling attack and there's nine of us, so there's a good role for each one of us to play at some point."

Asked how the Australian squad was adjusting to life inside the bio-secure bubble in Southampton, Richardson said he had made a point of spending time outdoors every day.

"I walked 10 km of laps around the outfield the other day, which sounds a bit boring but it took an hour and a half and it was nice," he said.

"There's so many different cliques in the group, there's coffee clubs, there's the Formula One (simulator), I think some guys will play golf on the course and then go and play golf on the PlayStation.

"That's not my cup of tea, but the boys seem to be taking care of themselves when it comes to the time away from cricket."

2020 Tour of England

Australia's T20 and ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. Reserves: Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood

September 4: 1st T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 5

September 6: 2nd T20, Southampton, 11.15pm AEST

September 8: 3rd T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 9

September 11: 1st ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 13: 2nd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 16: 3rd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST