Schedule news – Australian players have a Sheffield Shield preparation window in India

Australia’s multi-format stars have been given their best red-ball summer preparations in five years, with the players set to have up to four Sheffield Shield games for the Test series against India.

But for the first time in a long time, different players will have multiple Shield matches in preparation for the Test team’s bid to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy again.

Australia’s final overseas white-ball commitment this year is on September 29 in England, giving the players a week before the start of the Shield season on October 8. Even if the pace is relaxed from the first round, each country will play three more games before then. the players enter the camp for the first Test against India starting on November 22.

While Starc played for NSW during the 2020-21 bubble, Cummins and Hazlewood have not played a Shield before the first Test since November 2019. Mitchell Marsh, meanwhile, has played two Shield matches from 2019.

The availability of multi-format players for the Shield is likely to be affected by Pakistan’s limited-overs tour for the ODI series starting on November 4. The proximity of the T20Is (November 14-18) at the start of the India series only means so much. non-Test players are likely to be selected. There are also two Australia A-India A matches from late October which will take the players out of domestic cricket.

The influx of Shield games will also give the likes of Matt Renshaw, Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft the chance to push their selection reasons.

Bailey has revealed that the specialist opener will eventually replace either Smith or Khawaja in the future, after the former was replaced by David Warner last summer.

A total of six Shield rounds will be played before the BBL break, before each country plays a further four in February and March. The Shield matches will also be combined with the one-day cup, starting on September 22, with Western Australia aiming for a fourth consecutive title in both competitions.

The Shield final will be held between March 26-30 and the 50-over final will be held on consecutive days – the Marsh Cup on March 1 and the WNCL on March 2.

The 50-over WNCL tournament, in which Tasmania claims the titles, also has 12 matches per team, while the new women’s T20 series includes four matches each due to the shortened WBBL.

Each of the WBBL’s eight teams will play alongside the ACT Meteors, with the tournament pitting Australia’s best players against Bangladesh’s overseas stars in the T20 World Cup.