Full Shield round to fire up race for Ashes spots

Will Pucovski is on track to return to cricket next week with Victoria captain Peter Handscomb backing him to play in the first Ashes Test.

All six states will be in action when the latest round of Marsh Sheffield Shield begins Wednesday, with NSW and Victoria set to open their respective seasons at Sydney’s Drummoyne Oval, while Queensland take on Tasmania in Townsville and Western Australia host South Australia in Perth.

It promises to be a dramatic escalation of the fight for spots at the Vodafone Ashes, with a battle between Marcus Harris and Usman Khawaja for the right to open alongside David Warner looming after Pucovski's latest concussion.

The young Victorian has not played since suffering a shoulder injury during the SCG Test last summer, and a hit to the head in the nets marked the 10th concussion of the 23-year-old's career.

Pucovski is not part of Victoria's team to play the Blues this week, but has been earmarked for the return bout against the Blues on November 5.

That would give him almost five weeks to be ready for the Gabba Test on December 8, with two weeks' quarantine also required in that period.

Handscomb said Pucovski had seemed in good spirits after the most recent setback, and was confident he could step straight back in.

"As soon as he feels he's ready to go he'll be fine," Handscomb said, when asked if Pucovski could go straight into Australia's Ashes squad after next week's return.

"He's not one that needs to hit a lot of balls to be feeling back in the middle and timing it well.

"He's just got such a natural eye that a couple of hits and he will be ready to go.

"If he is available for our second Shield game, even on minimal hits he'll be fine.

"I'm not worried about him for our Shield game or the Ashes summer if he does get a crack."

If Pucovski does miss out, a two-way battle between Khawaja and Harris looms for an opening spot.

Khawaja hit 174 in his most recent innings for Queensland, while Harris is coming off an English summer in which he scored four centuries.

"Harry's played over in England for this season, he's played more red-ball games than anyone else that could be in the Test squad," Handscomb said.

Khawaja, who described his 174 as a "grind" for large parts of the innings said he still had "high hopes" to play Test cricket again.

"I don't like to look too far ahead, every time I have things haven't gone the way I wanted them to, so I go one game at a time – it's a big cliché, but it works for me, so that's all I'll try to do," the Queensland captain said yesterday.

"I just don’t think about it, I was in the side, out of the side, I've been dropped more times than anyone in Australian cricket. If experience has taught me anything, it's that if it's meant to happen it will happen, I'm pretty relaxed with life at the moment."

And while Marnus Labuschange has yet to register a half-century this summer, Khawaja said he's not worried about the Test No.3's form.

"He hasn't had a big score yet but he's been batting really well in the nets," Khawaja said. "I'm not worried, he was looking really good (last innings in Adelaide), he batted time in the middle and that sort of stuff is invaluable.

"I expect him to come out next game and score a hundred, it's just the way Marnus is, he's a class batsman."

New NSW Blues skipper Kurtis Patterson admitted he got distracted by trying to push for a Test spot last summer but insists lessons from that can help reignite his push for a place in Australia's middle order this year.

"I was certainly guilty last year of falling into that trap of trying to prove things to people or trying to prove things to myself," Patterson said.

"I'm never my best when I'm in that in that mindset. I lost sight of that a little bit, got caught up with other things and Australian selection.

"But like always I think those tougher times throughout your career always offer really good opportunities to learn and I did that last year."

Patterson, now married and expecting his first baby with partner Jocelyn, believes a more mature outlook away from cricket will also help.

The 28-year-old said he won't play with Australian selection front of mind, instead hopeful that he can earn a recall with a weight of runs.

"I obviously want to play for Australia, there's no doubt about that," Patterson said. "And I think I'm good enough to do so, but I also know where I stand. I'm coming off a pretty lean season. 

"But I also know from my previous experience how quickly it can change with a couple of timely hundreds."

Handscomb, meanwhile, has not given up on his own Test hopes.

"I've been working hard tinkering with little things to make sure I can get better and keep improving, and doing some good stuff with Chris Rogers," Handscomb said.

"It's just the simple stuff, make runs and force them to pick you (but) it's all good and well to make runs but if the Test side is winning and making runs you don't get opportunities.

"I got found out a little bit at that next level, that happens, now it's up to me to get better and give the bowlers a different question to get me out.

"I've still got dreams, still got aspirations but first and foremost I've got to make runs and win games for Victoria.

"If I start doing that, then maybe I can let myself think about playing for Australia again."

Marsh Sheffield Shield round three

All matches streamed live on cricket.com.au and Kayo Sports

NSW v Victoria
Drummoyne, play starts 10.30am AEDT

NSW squad: Kurtis Patterson (c), Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Jack Edwards, Mathew Gilkes, Liam Hatcher, Lachlan Hearne, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Peter Nevill, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha.

Victoria squad: Peter Handscomb (c), Scott Boland, Sam Elliott, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Jon Holland, Nic Maddinson, Jonathan Merlo, Wil Parker, Mitch Perry, James Seymour, Matt Short, Will Sutherland

Queensland v Tasmania
Riverway Stadium, Townsville, 11am AEDT

Queensland squad: Usman Khawaja (c), James Bazley, Joe Burns, Blake Edwards, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully, Jack Wildermuth,

Tasmania squad: Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Jordan Silk, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster (c), Mac Wright.

Western Australia v South Australia
WACA Ground, play starts 1.30pm AEDT

Western Australia squad: Shaun Marsh (c), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Matt Kelly, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Sam Whiteman.

South Australia squad: Travis Head (c), Alex Carey (wk, vc), Jake Carder, Brendan Doggett, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Corey Kelly, Jake Lehmann, Nathan McAndrew, Nathan McSweeney, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Jake Weatherald, Daniel Worrall.