Maxi grapples with format shifts

Glenn Maxwell has admitted his frustration at a "broken" start to the home summer, with the enigmatic batsman not expected to have a chance to push his case for a Test recall in the JLT Sheffield Shield before the first Test against India.

Australia's squad for the first Domain Test, to begin December 6 in Adelaide, is set to be named before the round of first-class games starting November 27. 

Named in Australia's T20 squad to play four matches against South Africa and India, Maxwell will miss Victoria's next Shield match against Tasmania beginning Saturday. While he’s set to return for their final two games before the KFC Big Bash break, the Test squad will likely have already been settled by then.

Maxwell has now played 38 consecutive white-ball matches without a first-class game, having missed selection for the Australia A series in India and the subsequent two-Test series against Pakistan earlier this year.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Maxwell remained on the Test radar after his omission for the Pakistan series, but the 30-year-old told radio station SEN Wednesday he held out little hope for a recall.

"It's a broken sort of start to the season," said Maxwell, who played in a T20 series against Pakistan in the UAE before the three-match Gillette ODI campaign against South Africa concluded Sunday.

"You get flown here, there and everywhere and changing formats and then as soon as these four T20s are done you're back into Shield cricket and trying to put your name back up for Test selection.

"I've been working on different things to what I had been during the JLT Cup period. Heading straight into the T20s over in Dubai, I was working on a lot of power hitting and trying to clear the rope.

"Then get back into the one-day stuff and went back to technique stuff and then working on that and now all of a sudden we're back into T20 stuff.

"As you feel like you're about to make breakthroughs and you're starting to work it out, you change format again and you can change position in the team. That can be very frustrating.

"The opportunity and the game situation drives how you play as well. It's been a little bit frustrating. Not winning consistently is frustrating as well."

The only other player who finds himself in the same situation as Maxwell is close friend Aaron Finch, the national limited-overs captain and incumbent Test opener who has been backed by Test skipper Tim Paine to retain his spot at the top of the order in Adelaide.

Other likely starters for the first Test have been overlooked for the upcoming international T20s.

Ashes-winning bowlers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon will all play for NSW in their next Shield match against Queensland, Shaun and Mitch Marsh will play for Western Australia against South Australia, who will be captained by Travis Head.

Queensland trio Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Burns and Matthew Renshaw all have the chance to impress against the Blues' star-studded attack, while Peter Handscomb will skipper Victoria against a Tasmania team featuring Paine.

The only other member of Australia's T20 squad who could be considered to be in the Test reckoning is Marcus Stoinis, though he played two Shield matches for the Warriors at the beginning of the season.

Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja is making good progress but remains in a race against time to recover from knee surgery.

Maxwell said he’d given little thought of adding to his seven Test caps throughout recent limited-overs campaigns.

"It's probably not at the forefront of my mind – I'm not pencilling my name in for that first Test side," he continued.

"A lot's going to have to go right, opportunity-wise – batting in the middle order in T20s, you're basically just waiting on what happens above to see what effect you can possibly have on the game.

"The Shield stuff – hopefully I'll get an opportunity to bat a long period of time and get a big number on the board. That's what I'm thinking going forward.

"Hopefully if things go my way, I can be there."

Gillette T20s v South Africa and India

Gillette T20s v South Africa 

November 17: Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Gillette T20s v India

November 21: The Gabba

November 23: MCG

November 25: SCG

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

South Africa T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.

India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.