ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 05: Mitch Marsh of Australia looks on during an Australian training session at Adelaide Oval on December 5, 2018 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Australian Test cricket aspirants Josh Inglis, Mitch Marsh and Ashton Agar may see their hopes of selection for the upcoming tour of Pakistan scuppered due to a lack of Sheffield Shield exposure.
According to a report released by Fox Sports, the Shield season is set to recommence on February 9, however, with Western Australia's borders still closed, the state's XI isn't expected to resume along with the rest of the competition.
While this aforesaid date is not set in stone, should each of Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia restart their schedule without the WACA side, a debut for Inglis and re-selections for Marsh and Agar will likely be hampered.
With border closures set to provide a lack of red-ball cricket for this trifecta, their collective Big Bash form with the Perth Scorchers will likely act as their resume for selection in the subcontinent this March.
Speaking in the midst of this scheduling ambiguity, Australian selector and former batter George Bailey sympathised with the frozen-out Western Australians vying for a ticket to Pakistan.
“I really feel for the Western Australian contingent at the moment and their struggle to actually get that time at home,” Bailey stated.
“There’s a number of players – I think Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, Ashton Agar and Mitch Swepson are a handful of guys off the top of my head who have, due to the nature of scheduling, played a lot of one format and not as much of another.
“They are still working hard at their game, and I know the three formats are incredibly different, but there are some skillsets that do cross over.
“If the opportunity arises and we do see fit, we certainly won’t preclude them.”
The first Test between the touring Australians and Pakistan is set to take place on March 3 in Karachi.
The three-Test series will be the first undertaken by both sides in Pakistan since 1998.