Big Bash the showcase for ODI hopefuls

The biggest night of the Big Bash summer was also a final opportunity for several of Australia's fast-bowling hopefuls to demonstrate their wares ahead of the forthcoming ODI series against India.

Australia's depth of top-end fast-bowling talent – considered one of its greatest strengths – will be pushed to the limit during the five-match series against MS Dhoni's side, which will be followed by three T20s at the end of the month.

Quick Single: Crowds voting for exciting Big Bash

With less than a week between the end of the New Year's Test against the West Indies and the first ODI on January 12, and with a tour to New Zealand and the World T20 in the coming months, selectors will need to juggle an attack that was hit hard by serious injury and retirement last year when they announce their ODI squad tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Of the 10 frontline quicks that represented Australia in Test, ODI and T20 cricket in 2015, just four – Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, John Hastings and Gurinder Sandhu – are currently available for selection.

Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson have both retired, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile are all on the long-term injury list, while Peter Siddle was ruled out of the SCG Test with an ankle problem and has subsequently been made unavailable for the remainder of the Big Bash with his side the Renegades in a bid to be fit for Australia's tour of New Zealand next month. 

The workloads of Hazlewood and Pattinson are sure to be high following back-to-back Tests over the festive period, meaning they too could be unavailable for some or all of the white-ball portion of the summer.

The Test in Sydney will be Hazlewood's sixth of a gruelling campaign, the first Australian to push through such a workload since Siddle did so in 2011-12. The right-armer this week declared himself fit for his home Test, but prior warnings from both selector Rod Marsh and captain Steve Smith indicate the tall New South Welshman is due for a spell.

Pattinson, too, is in line for a rest.

The SCG Test will represent the Victorian speedster's sixth first-class match in a little more than two months, a testament to his resilience this summer but a factor that could be a red flag from a workload perspective seeing as it took him almost two years to play the previous six.

And with the injured Siddle to be saved for the NZ tour (he hasn't played an ODI in more than five years in any case), selectors will have to look elsewhere for some frontline pace options, and three contenders did their chances no harm on Saturday night across two Big Bash classes on opposite sides of the country.

In his own words, Hastings – one of three incumbent ODI quicks along with Starc and Cummins – has had an "unbelievably bad run" with injury this summer.

WATCH: Hastings on fire at the 'G

But he returned from his latest setback with figures of 4-29 in the Melbourne derby at the MCG and rightfully talked up his chances of a recall after his side's seven-wicket win.

"I'd absolutely hope (I'm in contention), I played in the last ODI Australia played in," Hastings said.

"I haven't had a phone call to say otherwise. With the amount of bowlers out at the moment (I'm hopeful), but there's also the amount of people putting pressure on for spots.

"Hopefully I can put my hand up; I think it’s the right time for me. I know my game inside and out, I'm 30 years old, Australia needs a bit of an older head but whether I'm that person, I'll have to wait and see.

"I feel like if I can keep putting performances on the board and keep reminding the selectors I'm still here and still really want it."

And just hours later, some 3500 kilometres across the Nullarbor, two other highly-rated quicks completed their latest audition at the WACA Ground, with selector Mark Waugh watching on.

Left-arm duo Jason Behrendorff and Joel Paris were part of a Perth Scorchers attack that choked the Sydney Sixers on a lively surface, restricting the visitors to just 8-112 from their 20 overs.

WATCH: Scorchers-Sixers match highlights

Behrendorff finished with 2-24 from his four, bringing his BBL|05 tally to six wickets in three matches since returning from a back injury that – like the end of last summer – had threatened to derail his season.

Having worked hard to simply get back on the park, the 25-year-old was unsurprisingly coy when it came to his international ambitions.

"I'm just really working on keeping myself fit and letting my bowling do the talking," he told cricket.com.au. "If I keep taking wickets, who knows what might happen in the future?

"(My back) is a day-to-day, game-to-game process and I'll just keep doing all the right things and hopefully it'll stay good for me.

"I'm feeling really good. It's nice to be out there for one and then to take some wickets and fulfil my role in the team is awesome."

Along with Behrendorff, Hastings and the impressive Paris, the likes of Test squad member Scott Boland, South Australian Kane Richardson and veteran Doug Bollinger have all stood out this summer, underlining the enviable depth of Australia's fast men.

The candidates are lining up all around the country, and just who earns a promotion from understudy to the lead role will be revealed tomorrow.

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