The Ashes: Australia give selection hints as T20 squad reshuffled

The Ashes plans of Australia’s selectors are becoming clearer with Sean Abbott excused from national Twenty20 duty so he can play a vital Sheffield Shield match.

Abbott is set to return to red-ball cricket in the fourth round of the Shield, when NSW host Victoria at the SCG in what will be an Ashes tune-up for multiple members of the Test squad.

Abbott will depart the T20 squad after three games of Australia’s five-match series against India.

Fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood will also leave the T20 squad prematurely, after two games of that series, to reset into red-ball mode and play the Shield match that begins on November 10.

The first Test between Australia and England begins on November 21, highlighting the importance of the SCG Shield showdown.

Abbott has featured in 56 white-ball games for Australia but is yet to make his Test debut despite being a perennial tourist.

The right-armer hasn’t played since splitting the webbing on his right hand during last week’s Shield match.

Abbott became the first player to be substituted out of a Shield game with a non-concussion injury and, as per Cricket Australia’s new rules, has been unable to play during a mandatory 12-day stand-down period.

Scott Boland will almost certainly replace Pat Cummins if Australia’s injured captain misses the first Ashes Test, as is fully expected.

But with speedsters Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson both out of action, Abbott could make his Test debut this summer.

Michael Neser and hamstrung Brendan Doggett loom as other options, should Australia be forced to test their pace depth.

Marnus Labuschagne, who joined Australia’s ODI squad after Cam Green’s injury, is flying out to prepare for Queensland’s Shield clash with NSW that begins at the Gabba on Tuesday.

Labuschagne is widely expected to return to Australia’s XI for the first Ashes Test, with the only question being where he will bat in the order.

National selector George Bailey last week described the decision to withdraw Green from the three-match ODI series as “conservative” and to ensure he has enough time to get his body right for the first Test in Perth on November 21.

“We’ve put so much time and energy into building out the plan for him to be available for the first Test as an allrounder,” Bailey said.

“So for the sake of him only going to play the first two one-dayers anyway, and with the way he swings the cricket bat in white-ball cricket, it just (helped us make) the decision to approach this more conservatively.

“But I don’t think it’s a setback in terms of it not changing his Shield preparation or his availability for what we expect to come.

Bailey said he still expects green to bowl in WA’s Shield clash with South Australia and Queensland in the lead-up to the Ashes.

Both of those fixtures are home games at the WACA Ground.