Australia's leading male players will have a rare chance to pit their red-ball skills against one another, with the Sheffield Shield's critical role in priming Test stars for their bid to wrestle the Border-Gavaskar Trophy off India revealed today.
Cricket Australia has announced four Shield rounds will be played before the Test summer opener against India on November 22, including the first two in a window free of any overlapping international commitments.
Thursday's announcement of the summer's domestic fixtures all but completes a 2024-25 schedule that has the men’s side's quest to end a run of four consecutive Test series defeats to India at its forefront.
Unlike the three previous years that have seen white-ball World Cups run into November, there is clear air in Australia's international program through the entire month of October when the Sheffield Shield season gets underway following an opening blitz of domestic 50-over matches.
Australia's limited-overs tour of the United Kingdom ends on September 29. The national side are then not back in action until a three-match ODI and T20I home series against Pakistan from November 4-18.
None of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Steve Smith have played a single match in any of the previous three Shield seasons, while other leading Australian players have also seen windows to turn out for their states shrink amid cricket's global schedule squeeze.
But most, if not all, of Australia's current all-format players (a group that also includes Mitch Marsh, Travis Head and Cameron Green) could play multiple Shield matches in the early stages of this summer's competition beginning October 8.
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