The Sheffield Shield season begins on Tuesday with six Australian Test incumbents named in state squads, as the four-day contests provide valuable hints to Pat Cummins’ team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Travis Head, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh — all from the team that defeated New Zealand in Christchurch in March — will all feature in the opening round of the Australian first-class season.

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The first of five Tests against India on home soil starts at Perth Stadium on November 22 and the absence of any international white ball commitments until the three-match ODI series against Pakistan commences on November 4 has paved the way for Australia’s Test stars to gain extra red ball practice, and perhaps others to work their way into the squad.

These are Australia’s burning questions ahead of the Sheffield Shield opener.

READ MORE: Aussie opening contenders as frontrunner emerges in Test shuffle… but glaring flaw remains

WILL A TEST INCUMBENT START TO OPEN THE BATTING?

The greatest intrigue remains about whether any of the Test team’s top six will start opening the batting for their state in a precursor to taking the responsibility from Steve Smith.

Talk out of the Australian camp in recent months has suggested that Smith will not be at the top against India after doing so in the country’s last four Test matches and unfortunately, the biggest hint yet as whether that is true will have to wait.

New South Wales coach Greg Shipperd has said that they will follow any orders that come from Australian coach Andrew McDonald regarding Smith’s position in their batting line-up, but Smith has been rested from New South Wales’ clash with South Australia at Cricket Central in Sydney following Australia’s white-ball tour of the United Kingdom.

Batting position in the Sheffield Shield does not always translate to the Test team, however.

Pending injury or illness, Usman Khawaja will open the batting for Australia in Perth, and he will also walk out at the start of the innings for Queensland at the WACA.

Khawaja has opened in Test cricket on every occasion since the Hobart day/night Ashes Test in January 2022 but the last time he did so for the Bulls was only a month after permanently claiming the position for Australia.

In the last two Sheffield Shield seasons, the 37-year-old has batted at four to accommodate for Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns and Bryce Street facing the new ball at various times.

Which proves that a player’s place in the batting order in first-class cricket does not necessarily correspond to which number they occupy at Test level.

But McDonald and Cummins’ thoughts would become obvious if Labuschagne, Head or Marsh open in the coming days.

Reading the tea leaves of comments circulating in the media, it appears the idea of Head bashing the new ball like he does in one-day and T20 cricket appeals most to the Australian hierarchy despite his success at number five.

The return of an ultra-aggressive opener for the first time since a young David Warner – the retired left-hander’s strike rate in Tests was less than 66 every year since 2017 – would balance out accumulators Smith, Khawaja and Labuschagne.

But Head’s counterattacking ability in the middle order has been crucial to Australia’s success most notably with his player of the match winning 163 in the first innings of World Test Championship final.

The 30-year-old has been operating at a walloping strike rate of 79.18 in Test matches in the last four years to pull Australia out of trouble on several occasions, but he did show flexibility on last year’s tour of India when opened five times and produced two innings of importance – 49 not out to guide Australia to victory in Indore and 90 in the drawn Test in Ahmedabad.

South Australia have named recognised openers Henry Hunt and Conor McInerney in their 12-man squad, however.

Marsh presents the other attacking option having also enjoyed success in recent times in white ball cricket at the top, but the all-rounder has been a middle order mainstay in red ball cricket throughout his career.

Similarly Western Australian have named prolific opening pair Cameron Bancroft and Sam Whiteman who are unlikely to be split up.

Labuschagne has the most recent opening experience of the trio having scored a century for Glamorgan in County Cricket in the role in May, but Khawaja is confirmed to open alongside Renshaw for Queensland leaving the new skipper at his preferred number three.

WHO WILL PUT THEIR NAME FORWARD IF GREEN NEEDS TO BE REPLACED?

A cloud of secrecy surrounds Cameron Green’s back injury.

The extent of which is yet to be revealed but with a history of stress fractures, it appears unlikely he will be fit to bowl against India.

Green’s matchwinning innings of 174 not out in the first test against New Zealand in Wellington earlier this year showed that he is worthy of a place in Australia’s top six as a batter alone, but his injury may rule him out all together from at least part of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

If that is the case, Australia’s selectors have the choice to either use the vacancy to bring in a specialist opening batter or choose a like-for-like all-rounder to provide support to the quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.

Which means the start of the Sheffield Shield season becomes pivotal for Matt Renshaw, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft, Aaron Hardie and Beau Webster.

Opening batters Renshaw, Harris and Bancroft were the names touted to replace David Warner last summer and if Green is out, they have the chance to bash down the door this time with several big scores to kick off the summer.

Queenslander Renshaw was the reserve batter for the tour of New Zealand after Harris occupied that position for much of the previous two years following being dropped for the final Test of 2021/22 Ashes series.

Renshaw has the strong backing of new Queensland coach Johan Botha who declared that “the plan for all of us is to get him back in the Test team” but he and Harris will need to score big runs to rectify underwhelming Sheffield Shield seasons last summer.

Renshaw scored 374 runs at 24.93, while Harris did not fare a whole a lot better for Victoria with 476 runs at 29.75.

In contrast, Bancroft was the most prolific opening batter in the competition with 778 runs at 48.62 for Western Australia after topping the Shield run chart the season prior with 945 runs at 59.06.

If the selectors opt to go down the all-rounder path, Hardie did his chances no harm with a solid white ball tour of the United Kingdom last month where he produced handy contributions with the bat from number eight (23 and 44) as well as picking up four wickets with his medium pace in four ODIs against England.

But Hardie will miss Western Australia’s opening match with a quad injury and his Shield numbers do not command a spot in the top six with him averaging 34.27 and 29.07 in the past two seasons.

Webster meanwhile was the player of the season last Shield campaign with a whopping 938 runs at 58.62 to comfortably top the run tally ahead of Bancroft as well as collecting 30 wickets at 29.30 with his combination of right arm medium pace and off spin.

The Tasmanian earned an Australia A call-up last month but has never donned national colours in any format.

Selection is often about scoring runs at the right time against the right opposition in the right conditions, and with Test trio Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood expected to play for NSW at some stage in the next month making a big score against them could be the way into the Test team.

Which would present Harris with the greatest opportunity as Victoria face NSW at the MCG in the second round of matches later this month.

WHO WILL BE THE NEXT FAST BOWLER IN LINE?

One of the most glaring things to stand out from the squads named was the absence of Scott Boland’s from Victoria’s line-up.

Boland’s county stint with Durham this season was short-lived courtesy of a plantar fascia injury, and if the 35-year-old cannot prove his match fitness ahead of the India series he may be leapfrogged in Australia’s fastest bowling queue.

The ten-Test sensation sat on the sidelines as Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood remarkably played all seven tests at home and in New Zealand last summer, but chances are that feat will not be repeated as India’s batting line-up will surely force them to spend longer stints on the park.

Rotation of the quicks will almost certainly be a requirement and if Boland is not ready then the early Shield games become massive for the next crop of quicks in line.

West Australian duo Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris are highly touted but neither will play the opening game for their state as they both ease their way back from off season injuries.

Michael Neser has been a regular member of Test squads, has donned the baggy green twice and is a consistent performer at Shield level but this could be an opportunity for a bolter who starts the season on fire.

Son of former Test opening batter Matthew, Sam Elliott took a Victorian record 7/12 in a One-Day Cup match against Tasmania last month. The 24-year-old or another young quick could jump ahead of the queue by taking bags of wickets to begin their red ball campaign.

LABUSCHAGNE MOVE SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?

Marnus Labuschagne will captain Queensland for the first time since taking over from Usman Khawaja full-time in a move that may hint to the Australian team’s future.

The 30-year-old has been overlooked for leadership positions in favour of Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey in recent years and taking responsibility for his state side could be a sign that Labuschagne has ambitions of higher honours.

Cummins will not be around forever, neither will Smith as vice-captain and with his position in the top order seemingly secure, Labuschagne appears a likely candidate to take up a leadership role in the future if he prospers as Queensland captain.

In the meantime, Cummins will be disappointed that there are no reviews in Shield cricket as having to decide on referrals may have given Labuschagne greater perspective about him insisting almost everything is out when the Australian’s appeal in a Test match.