Players to watch this Sheffield Shield season ahead of Ashes Test summer

The football codes may still be front and centre in the Australian sporting psyche, but the battle for Test spots for the upcoming men's Ashes is about to start.

On Saturday, all six Sheffield Shield teams begin their 2025-26 campaigns giving fringe players a chance to push for national selection in a handful of spots.

While the team has been largely settled for many years, as always some positions are potentially up for grabs.

So, here's what to look out for as the cricket season gathers pace ahead of another blockbuster summer.

Who will open with Usman Khawaja?

It wouldn't be an Australian summer without speculation over who is going to open the batting for the men's Test side.

Queenslander Usman Khawaja is a lock, albeit one who hasn't been in great touch.

His 232 against Sri Lanka in Galle in January is his only century in the past 44 innings, during which time he's averaged 34 — steady, but not outstanding.

But Khawaja brings such maturity to the team that his position can't be questioned in what could be the 38-year-old's last series.

Khawaja and his opening partner from the World Test Championship final, Marnus Labuschagne, are both due to play for Queensland against Tasmania at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Saturday.

Sam Konstas is the incumbent opener and has only just turned 20, but already it feels like he's been through a career's worth of ups and downs in Test cricket.

After ramping his way to 60 against the might of Jasprit Bumrah on debut last summer, Konstas simply couldn't match that pace and fell away badly.

He was dropped after two matches for the series against Sri Lanka and the WTC final loss to South Africa, but came back to open for Australia's three-Test series in the West Indies.

He failed miserably: In his six innings, Konstas scored a total of just 50 runs with a top score of 25 at an average of 8.

Since then, Konstas has bounced back on the Australia A tour to India, scoring 188 runs in the two unofficial Tests against India A, including a century at an average of 62.

He's due to play in all four Sheffield Shield matches for NSW before the first Test, starting with Saturday's fixture away against Western Australia.

Konstas is a future star of the game, and will be given every chance, and while runs are the main currency that counts, critics will be watching to see if he's learned to balance attack with defence.

His biggest threat could come from Tasmanian opener Jake Weatherald.

The left-hander had an exceptional past Sheffield Shield season leading the run-scorer's list with 906 at an average of 50, including three centuries and three half-centuries.

Australia's chairman of selectors George Bailey confirmed Weatherald is being considered for higher honours.

"His performance last year was awesome," Bailey said recently.

"So, if he starts the year as he had last year, he'll be well in the mix."

The other player to do well on the Australia A tour was South Australia captain Nathan McSweeney, who scored 74 and 85 not out in the first match as skipper.

McSweeney opened in the first three Tests of last summer's series against India, scoring 72 runs at an average of 14.4 before he was dropped.

He begins his campaign for a recall when South Australia plays Victoria in Adelaide.

The other usual suspects for the opening position, Victoria's Marcus Harris and Queensland's Matthew Renshaw, both had mediocre Shield Seasons in 2024/25 and will have to make an impression early.

New South Wales batter Kurtis Patterson is another to watch for a potential position in the top three.

Following his two Tests in 2019, Patterson fell out of favour with both the national and state teams but forced his way back into the NSW side last season.

In eight games, he scored 743 runs at an average of 57 and began this season well with a one-day century against Tasmania.

Does Cameron Green stay at three and what about Beau Webster?

Labuschagne may be the forgotten man of Australian Test cricket.

After being a permanent fixture in the Australian team for six years, Labuschagne was dropped after a brief shot as an opener in the World Test Championship final at Lord's in June.

He'd previously gone 30 innings without a Test century at an average of 24 to force the selectors' hands.

Labuschagne was replaced at number three when all-rounder Cameron Green returned from back surgery.

Green went on to score a half-century and two handy 40s during the subsequent tour of the West Indies, where no-one scored more than 75.

The big watch on Green, who seems certain to retain his spot in the side, will be on his bowling after surgery.

Green has opted out of Australia's current T20 tour to New Zealand to concentrate on Sheffield Shield cricket as he seeks to build up his bowling load.

His ability to bowl multiple overs, as much as the number of wickets he takes and runs he scores, will be the big test over Green's first Shield matches.

Then there's the question of whether he stays at three for Australia, which is where he belongs, according to captain Pat Cummins.

"I think he proved over in the West Indies that he has the potential to be the long-term number three," Cummins said.

He also said he didn't have a problem with two all-rounders in the side.

That will be music to the ears of Tasmanian Beau Webster, who replaced Green as Australia's all-rounder against India last summer and stayed in the side when West Australian returned.

Webster's had a solid start to his seven-Test career scoring 381 runs at an average of 34.63 and eight wickets at 23, with his bonus ability to bowl medium pace and off-spin.

What about the bowlers?

The quartet of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon has been the first picked bowling line-up for almost a decade.

Together they have taken a staggering 1,568 Test wickets, but a lower back injury to Cummins could break up the foursome for the first Test starting on November 21 in Perth.

The hope is that Cummins and his state teammates will feature in NSW's last Shield matches before the first Test, but there is a chance he'll miss that game and possibly part of the Ashes series despite his desire to play all five Tests.

If that's the case, Scott Boland will slot in and no doubt add to his 62 wickets in a spasmodic yet brilliant 14-Test career.

Another NSW paceman, Sean Abbott, toured the West Indies as an injury replacement for South Australian Brendan Doggett, who was the player of the match when South Australia defeated Queensland by four wickets in the Shield final.

Doggett will miss the first Shield match with a hamstring strain but is clearly in the selectors' minds after taking 33 wickets last season.

His teammate, Nathan McAndrew, led the wicket-takers' list last season with 40 at an average of 20 with the 2024-25 player of the season Fergus O'Neill hot on his heels, taking 38 wickets at 21.

Lyon is still smarting from getting dropped for Boland in the third Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy.

"If I'm going to miss a Test for anyone, it's going to be Scott Boland," he told ABC Sport this week.

"I'm only disappointed because I believe my skill set can play a role in any conditions around the world and I kind of feel like I've proved that."

Lyon's main competition comes from Tasmanian off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann.

Kuhnemann went from high to low during Australia's successful two-Test tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year.

He took 16 wickets in the two Tests but was subsequently reported for a suspect action before getting cleared.

Queensland's Mitchell Swepson is still the leading leg-spinning option in Australia having played 11 Shield matches last season, although two young leggies, South Australia's Lloyd Pope and New South Wales' Tanveer Sangha will hold out hope of one day playing for the Australian Test side.