More questions than answers in expanded Aussie squads

In more recognisable, less virulent times, the release of the first men's Test team of an Australia summer heralds a measure of certainty that temporarily quiets all-but the most querulous front-bar debaters.

But as we've been made aware ad nauseam, these are darkly different days.

And instead of a group of 12 or 13 heading to the Gabba for the traditional start of the five-day cricket season, Australia today named two squads – one numbering 19, the other 17 – to prepare for a series of Tests starting five weeks from now.

Even allowing for the overlap of nine players in the former (to contest a pair of pre-Test warm-up games against India in Sydney) and the latter (from which the Test XI will be nominated), it's a bigger pool than that gathered in Southampton last year to try out for Australia's Ashes party.

The engorged number is required partly because of the need to have ready like-for-like replacements within the team's strict bio-security bubble once the four-Test Vodafone Series gets underway from December 17.

However, it also reflects the new realities of the COVID19 landscape and its associated caveats that include the ongoing monitoring of players' mental and physical health within stringent confinement, and the changed logistics for getting personnel in and out of various bubbles.

Back in the day (ie prior to last March), the churn could be completed with little more than a phone call, a hastily booked flight and the availability of a properly sized and emblazoned team shirt.

Now, as national selection chair Trevor Hohns explained in a video media conference today, there are myriad extra contingencies to consider beyond who's batting and bowling well in the Marsh Sheffield Shield.

To begin with, a rump of the 17-man Test squad – Steve Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson – haven't been in the country for several months, and only arrive this week from their stints at the Indian Premier League.

On doing so, they head straight into 14-day hard quarantine in Sydney.

While their workloads, training programs to prepare for long-form cricket and mental wellbeing have been meticulously plotted and monitored from Australia, their preparedness to then enter directly into another playing bubble – for the upcoming Dettol ODIs and T20Is against India – likely won't be fully known until they complete quarantine later this month.

"We’re currently working through that and waiting for the IPL players in particular to return home," Hohns said about the need to factor breaks into individuals' playing schedules while also balancing the expectations of fans, broadcasters and commercial partners.

"Returning them to the BBL will be a little bit easier than bringing players in (to the Test bubble).

"As we’ve done in the past seasons, we will release players if the opportunity arises to play for their Big Bash clubs.

"We want players playing as much as they can, unfortunately right now the circumstances are a little different to normal."

The introduction of COVID substitutes into cricket's playing conditions – whereby a player exhibiting symptoms in keeping with the coronavirus must be subbed out of a match and isolated – means the identity of the nation's next-best opener/spinner/seamer/allrounder will become immediately clear.

But Hohns maintained there was no need for a second specialist wicketkeeper in the Test squad because former gloveman Matthew Wade could provide emergency back-up for skipper Tim Paine if needed.

"At very short notice and in an emergency that would be the case," Hohns said.

"If it was an injury that occurred between games, then we would have the chance and time to bring another wicketkeeper in."

Should that be necessary, it seems limited-overs keeper Alex Carey is next in line given his inclusion (with Paine) in the Australia A squad.

By not including a second specialist keeper in the Test squad, selectors have spared Carey another bout of bubble life after the limited-overs series given he's been away from home and family since leaving for the white-ball tour of the UK last August.

Another consideration for selectors and national men's team coach Justin Langer is how best to prepare for the opening Test against India at Adelaide Oval which is a day-night fixture – a format none of Australia's players have experienced since last November's Test against Pakistan.

And even then, it was only Australia's first five batters who got to face the pink ball in match conditions after Warner scored an unbeaten 335 across almost 10 hours, and his team won by an innings.

It's expected a bulk of the nine Australia A squad members who are also part of the Test outfit will leave Sydney to finalise preparations in Adelaide before the day-night warm-up game against India at the SCG.

But Hohns doesn't expect Australia's Test squad will undertake an internal trial game under lights in Adelaide to re-acquaint themselves with the pink ball in match conditions.

"I don't see that on the cards at the moment," he said.

"They'll obviously have practice sessions under lights and with pink balls etcetera, as is normal prior to a pink ball Test."

Then there are the personnel questions that arise from naming a large squad, and which extend far beyond the traditional speculation ahead of every season-opening Test at the Gabba – that is, whether to play four quicks or three plus a spinner.

The inclusion of uncapped allrounders Sean Abbott, Cameron Green and Michael Neser offers selectors flexibility along with a few quandaries as to how best deploy their subtly different skills sets.

Hohns confirmed Green, who has only just returned to pace bowling after a back injury, is considered a batter who bowls, while Abbott and Neser – both of whom scored maiden first-class hundreds in the opening Shield rounds – are viewed as bowlers who can contribute a few handy lower-order runs.

"(Green) is an immense talent as we know, and his batting alone demanded attention for this Test match squad," Hohns said of the 21-year-old Western Australian.

"And to see him bowling again … is quite exciting again as well.

"Of course, he’ll be definitely managed.

"Everyone wants to tread very carefully with Cameron because we see him having a fantastic future for Australian cricket.

"Whereas Cameron is a batting allrounder, Sean (Abbott) is a bowling allrounder … and his form with the bat over the last 12 months has been outstanding.

"He’s a fantastic package at the moment.

"Whether the opportunity will be there to get him some Test match cricket, that remains to be seen.

"(He and Neser) are both similar, and both warrant being in this extended squad."

Another traditional element of the Australia Test summer that's been reshaped for pandemic purposes is the addition of Mitchell Swepson as a second spin option behind Australia's most successful finger spinner, Nathan Lyon.

Historically, an auxiliary spinner is only included for the summer's final Test when it's played at the SCG where the pitch has long favoured slow bowlers more so than quicks.

But Hohns was effusive in praise for his fellow Queensland leggie and suggested the uncapped 27-year-old could slot easily into the Test XI on any surface should circumstances demand.

"He’s bowling beautifully," Hohns said.

"He’s confident, he deserves his place and he can certainly be a matchwinner on the day as we’ve seen a couple of times for Queensland (this summer)."

It seems the only shift driven more by philosophy than epidemiology was the decision to divest Travis Head of his position as one of two Test vice-captains, and instead install Cummins solely in that post.

It might be an indication of the selectors thinking for the future when Paine – who turns 36 a week before the first Vodafone Test – no longer leads, but Hohns stressed it was not an assessment of Head's status within the team.

"It was purely a matter of us going back to the old formula of having one vice-captain, similar to the white-ball squad (where Carey was recently relieved of his joint deputy title)," Hohns said.

"It's no reflection on what Travis has done, he’s done a wonderful job as a leader within in group and will remain a leader."

India Tour of Australia 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Australia ODI & T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey , Pat Cummins (vc), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.

India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

Dettol ODI Series v India

First ODI: November 27, SCG, 2.40pm AEDT

Second ODI: November 29, SCG, 2.40pm AEDT

Third ODI: December 2, Manuka Oval, 2.40pm AEDT

Dettol T20 INTL Series v India

First T20: December 4, Manuka Oval, 7.10pm AEDT

Second T20: December 6, SCG, 7.10pm AEDT

Third T20: December 8, SCG, 7.10pm AEDT

Tour matches

Australia A v India A, December 6-8, Drummoyne Oval

Australia A v Indians, December 11-13, SCG (day-night)

Vodafone Test Series v India

First Test: December 17-21, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT

*The matches and travel remain subject to any relevant government restrictions or requirements.