Struggling opener to young pretender: The Australia Test hopefuls looking to make their mark in the Sheffield Shield

NICK HOWSON: With a five-week block until the series against Pakistan, who will be hoping to stake a claim for a call-up during the early weeks of the domestic season?

David Warner - New South Wales

Warner may only have two games with New South Wales to convince the selectors he is worthy of retaining his place at the top of the Australia order, having been included in their T20 plans either side of the start of November.

His Ashes displays were utterly pathetic, and though he was reliable and at times remarkable in the slip cordon he will always be judged by his displays with the bat. Departing England with an average of 9.50 puts him immediately on the back-foot.

The slates of all Australia players have been wiped clean according to the chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns, comments which could be taken to mean that Warner's previous successes on home soil may count for little when the Test team is selected.

He averages just below 60 in Australia, where 15 of his 21 Test centuries have come. He will surely have to fire in the Shield to convince his superiors his Midas touch against the red ball has not completely evaded him.

Joe Burns - Queensland

'Keep doing what you're doing' would normally be the message to a player in Burns' position. The highest scorer in the Shield this decade with a Test average above 40, he should be nestling quite nicely into a fragile Australia batting line up.

The 30-year-old looked well-set to stage a bid for inclusion in Australia's Ashes plans when he rocked up at Lancashire in the County Championship. He lasted just one innings at the crease, however, and returned home due to a bout of glandular fever.

Despite the illness, Burns could still count himself unlucky not to have been involved with the senior team having scored 180 on his last Test outing. Instead, he had a watching brief and was left to consider what might have been.

Queensland play four times before the Test-match summer gets underway, giving Burns the chance to reaffirm to the selectors what they probably already know. Though he has only properly returned to action during The Marsh Cup he has already recorded two unbeaten half-centuries. Continue that form and a recall beckons.

^{Peter Handscomb has much to prove as he bids for a Test recall}

Peter Handscomb - Victoria

There is a feeling this season represents a last chance saloon for the Victorian after he was dropped mid-way through the India series, reinstated, before being rejected again for the clashes with Sri Lanka.

Concerns over his technique continue to linger, having come in for criticism from the likes of Ricky Ponting. The 28-year-old has worked on his issues at the crease, particularly to do with his footwork, and the start of the Shield season will be the ultimate test of those changes.

Perversely, Handscomb says the team which retained the Ashes in England should be kept on for the Tests against Pakistan, though he does want the selectors to take note of any success players might have in the domestic game.

Kurtis Patterson - New South Wales

Another batsman overlooked by Australia despite scoring a century in his last Test appearance, against Sri Lanka back in February. A difficult English summer with the A team meant an Ashes place evaded him, but how the tourists could have done with him down the order.

Between the twilight of last November and February Patterson proved why the excitement around his stellar start to life in the Shield - he became the youngster player to make a century on debut in 2011 - was justified.

He scored five centuries during that period, including back-to-back hundreds in the same match against the Sri Lankans in Hobart, leading to a belated Test call-up. 

Temperament has always been Patterson's main focus and that will be truly tested during both the early weeks of the red-ball season and in the Big Bash, having joined Perth Scorchers for three years. But the lofty left-hander has offered plenty of encouragement so far he can cope with expectation.

^{A dislocated shoulder derailed Jhye Richardson's international ambitions earlier in the year}

Jhye Richardson - Western Australia

There might not be a tougher group to infiltrate than the Australia seam attack, but there is plenty of reason to think Jhye Richardson could pull off the near-impossible.

Injury ruined the fulcrum of 2019 for the 23-year-old after a dislocated shoulder ruled him out for six months. But having played the last Test match against Sri Lanka and forced his way into the initial World Cup squad, he was very much part of the conversation.

James Pattinson's return, Peter Siddle's recall and Mitchell Marsh's outing at The Oval may have complicated Richardson's route back into the team but it would be foolish to overlook him if he can repeat the kind of speeds he generated prior to his injury.

Time spent with Glenn McGrath during his lay-off should make him a more thoughtful operator and though Western Australia coach Adam Voges admits he is not yet fully fit, he could be a contender for an international return during the second half of the summer.

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