For the first time in a long period, Australia’s multi-format stars will have a lengthy Shield schedule. They will prepare for the Test team’s effort to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The good news is that the players may have up to four Sheffield Shield matches to prepare for the Test series against India.
Cricket Australia announced the domestic summer schedule on Thursday, which includes a new women’s T20 league ahead of the WBBL. The Sheffield Shield and men’s one-day cup will each feature seven matches this season, as they have in prior years. However, Australia’s final foreign white-ball commitment this year is most likely on September 29 in England. So, the players will have a week before the Shield season begins on October 8.
Cummins and Starc’s Shield Participation
After five years, Australia’s multi-format stars will finally enjoy the strongest red-ball preparation for a summer. Pat Cummins will miss the entire limited-overs tour of the United Kingdom in September, while Mitchell Starc will play only the one-day international series against England. Josh Hazlewood has been added to both formats.
While Starc played for NSW throughout the 2020-21 season, Cummins and Hazlewood haven’t played Shield before the first Test since November 2019. Mitchell Marsh, on the other hand, has appeared in just two Shield games since 2019. The availability of multi-format players for the Shield will most certainly be influenced by Pakistan’s limited-overs tour, with the ODI series beginning on November 4. Because the T20Is (November 14-18) are so close to the commencement of the India series, only players who did not play in the Test will most likely be considered.
Two Australia-India matches in late October will take players out of domestic cricket. As a result, the number of Shield matches will give opportunities for Matt Renshaw, Marcus Harris, and Cameron Bancroft to strengthen their selection arguments. Australia’s Test team is mostly set for now, they will want to enter a reserve batter in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. After Renshaw, Harris, and Bancroft failed to secure national contracts, chief selector George Bailey stated in March that there was no longer a clear front-runner to replace Steven Smith or Usman Khawaja at the top of the order.
Shield and One-Day Cup Schedule
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Bailey has stated that a specialist opener will eventually replace Smith or Khawaja in the long run. Because the former was assigned the task of replacing David Warner last summer. Six Shield rounds will be contested before the BBL break, with each state playing four additional matches in February and March. Once again Sheild games be mixed with the one-day cup matches since the ODI cup is set to begin on September 22. The Shield final will take place from March 26 to March 30. At the same time, the 50-over finals will be held on successive days, with the Marsh Cup on March 1 and the WNCL on March 2.
The 50-over WNCL competition, in which Tasmania is seeking a hat-trick of titles, has 12 matches per team. Whereas, the recently established T20 series for women has four games per team because of the reduced WBBL. The tournament will feature all eight WBBL teams, as well as the ACT Meteors. This will take place while Australia’s top players and international stars are in Bangladesh for the T20 World Cup.
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