Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Marsh were omitted from the squad due to Australia’s busy schedule.
Australia coach Justin Langer said the selectors wanted the quartet to focus on the upcoming four-Test series against India.
“We know coming off the back of the tour to the UAE, a huge summer at home, and the World Cup and Ashes just around the corner that we have to get the balance right between playing our best T20 team and preparing for the upcoming Test series,” he said.
“While I know all four have a desire to be playing cricket for Australia in every format, with a really tough Test series against India coming up, we believe their best preparation is to go back and get some really good cricket under their belts in the Sheffield Shield.”
Australia will play one T20 against South Africa before meeting India in three ahead of their Test series.
Langer was pleased to welcome back Stoinis and Behrendorff, who has taken four wickets at 6.50 in his previous two T20 internationals.
“Marcus missed our recent T20 matches in the UAE because he hadn’t resumed bowling, but now he’s back to full fitness he’ll add great depth to the squad,” he said.
“Marcus is such a versatile player, he’s a powerful middle-order batsman and he provides us with another solid bowling option.
“Jason Behrendorff has also earned a spot in the squad after returning to full fitness. It was exciting to see him bowl well in the JLT Cup and in the recent Prime Minister’s XI match, and it gave us more evidence of how devastating he can be with the new ball. Tactically we believe it’s important to have a good left-arm swing bowler at our disposal for the four matches.”
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
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