Pucovski 'touch and go' as Test stars return to Shield

Injured opener Will Pucovski is "touch and go" to be fit for the resumption of the Marsh Sheffield Shield season and Victoria coach Chris Rogers has flagged the possibility of the Test rookie taking time out of the game to repair his damaged right shoulder.

Pucovski impressed on his Test debut a month ago but has since been troubled by injury, although it had been hoped the 23-year-old would be fit to play in Australia's proposed Test campaign in South Africa.

But now that the series against the Proteas has been postponed, Pucovski and the rest of Australia's Test squad will instead return to domestic ranks for the rest of the season.

A re-worked schedule for the rest of the Shield campaign is set to be confirmed early next week, although Rogers has revealed Victoria's first two matches – as well as a Marsh One-Day Cup game – will be against a NSW side that could feature the likes of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

Rogers revealed Pucovski is yet to be passed fit for their game against the Blues in Sydney - which he expects to start on February 15 - and the former Test opener said the best course of action for the youngster over the coming months is yet to be determined.

"I think it's a little bit touch and go, to be honest," Rogers told RSN.

"We're just trying to see how it settles down and if he’s OK to play some of the cross-bat shots.

"The other issue is what do we want to do over the next period with him? Does he want to really get on top of this and if that's the case, does that mean some serious medical work and that could be time out of the game?

"With this kind of gap in the schedule, we'll have to give it some serious thought."

With the SA tour postponed and Australia now an outside chance to qualify for the World Test Championship final in the middle of the year, they may have to wait until late November before they next play Test cricket.

All-format stars like Smith, Warner and Cummins face a busy year of white-ball cricket leading up to the T20 World Cup later this year, but Test specialists like Pucovski don't have a great deal of cricket ahead, although schedules at both domestic and international level remain fluid due to the pandemic.

While pleased to welcome back Pucovski, James Pattinson and Marcus Harris into his squad following the postponement of the SA tour, Rogers said he's had to re-shape his plans for the resumption of the Shield season.

The absence of Australia's Test stars was expected to see a host of young players get a chance at Shield level, but Rogers has had to recalibrate.

"(It) threw a spanner in the works because there were guys that you'd have thought might get an opportunity," he said.

"But I think it'll be good for the competition and I'll think we’ll see some pretty good cricket."

Discussions between CA's high-performance unit and its state counterparts have been happening this week to begin mapping out individual plans for Test players to return to their state systems.

CA announced the remainder of the domestic schedule in mid-December that sees Australian cricket's latest ever finish to a season, stretching to the final day of April.

However, that released schedule is expected to change in the coming days, with border closures continuing to create uncertainty for organisers.

It remains to be seen how much of that domestic season Australia's Test players will feature in, with the next Indian Premier League expected to start around April 11.

The last round of Shield action is currently scheduled to begin on April 6, with the Shield final to be played from April 15-19.

The Marsh Cup, which is currently scheduled to begin February 16 initially alongside Shield cricket, culminates in a block of nine games after the Shield final before the final on April 30.