With almost two months of cricketing action lost and one more to go before the first international fixture marks the resumption of the sport, much of 2020 has been lost and hence cricket in post-COVID-19 world might have previously agreed schedules being redrawn. And that may call for one team playing two different fixtures on the same day.
On Tuesday, former Australian cricketers Michael Hussey, Greg Chappell and Brad Hodge selected Australia's Test and T20I squad of both teams are likely to play on the same day.
Greg Chappell's squad -
Test: David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson.
T20I: D'Arcy Short, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake, Ashwton Turner.
"My focus was to get the best team for both formats. Obviously Smith and Warner could fit easily into each, as could Starc and Cummins. I must admit I was not prepared to weaken the Test team to bolster the T20I team. Both teams are competitive in my view. And, to me, Cameron Green is the next superstar of Australian cricket. He has proven that he can make runs at the first-class level, so the sooner he can prepare and play alongside Warner, Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, the sooner he will work out what he needs for the highest level from these champions," Chappell explained to ESPNCricinfo.
Michael Hussey's squad -
Test: Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson.
T20I: David Warner, Aaron Finch, D'Arcy Short, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Sean Abbott.
"The process I went through was: I wrote down the Australian Test No. 1-12, then a T20I 1-12, and I put the players in that are definitely Test and definitely T20 players. With the gaps, I tried to find the right balance in a team with players who were maybe just outside the squad. David Warner was a tough one because he'd be a first pick in both the Test and T20I teams, but I wasn't that confident in the other openers in T20," he explained.
"Mitchell Starc is a tough one as well. His ability in white-ball cricket, particularly with the new ball and at the death in T20s, is just so good. I felt I could cover him in the Test team with the likes of James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins - more sort of Test specialists. It wasn't easy, but two pretty good teams, I reckon, and hard to beat," he added.
Brad Hodge's squad -
Test: Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Time Paine, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jhye Richardson, James Pattinson
T20I: Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Azampa, Daniel Sams.
"I thought Warner was irreplaceable in the Test side given his record opening the batting and averaging 50 is substantial, even though he has an unreal T20 record. I felt you could still replace him - you might not get the same output, but you'll get something close to it with Marcus Stoinis or Chris Lynn up the top," said Hodge.
