DARWIN (AUSTRALIA): Test cricket returns to Australia's tropical Top End for the first time since 2003 when the hosts face Bangladesh in a two-match series starting Thursday.
The series opener at Marrara Stadium in Darwin marks Bangladesh's first Test tour Down Under in over two decades and kicks off a 12-month period of 20 Test matches for the Aussies including tours of world Test champion South Africa, India and England.
Australia's so-called Big Four could be reunited in the hosts bowling attack with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon returning from injuries.
Pace bowlers Cummins, Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc and offspinner Lyon have been the longtime front line attack for Australia but injuries have limited the frequency of all four combining in the same XI in recent series.
The inclusion of evergreen pace bowler Scott Boland in the squad, with allrounders Cameron Green and Beau Webster, gives Australia plenty of options with the ball.
It's Australia's batting lineup that poses more questions.
Opening bat Jake Weatherald, the first test player from Australia's Northern Territory, has been retained from the Ashes series win over England last season despite indifferent form and is likely to open the innings with Travis Head.
The retirement of veteran opening batter Usman Khawaja has allowed a structural reshuffle in Australia's lineup that could see the hosts unleash a dual-allrounder assault, with Green and Webster playing in the same team.
"I forced my way into this team through weight of runs and obviously some wickets on the back of that," Webster said this week.
"But primarily as a batter you deal in runs and over the last five years that's been my way into the team and the way to stay in the team."
Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith anchor the innings at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, with Labuschagne also in need of runs to secure his place in the lineup.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh arrives severely depleted in the bowling department.
Nahid Rana, Mustafizur Rahman, and Shoriful Islam are all unavailable for the opening test, though Shoriful may return for the second match in Mackay, Queensland state from Aug. 22-26.
The 23-year old Rana, one of the quickest bowlers in world cricket, will be sorely missed by the tourists after he tormented a depleted Australian side with extreme pace and bounce to secure a historic 2-1 ODI home series victory for Bangladesh just two months ago.
Rana then suffered a side strain in a Twenty20 international match against Zimbabwe in July and would be absent for up to eight weeks, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said.
The batting order has also been hit hard by injuries, with veteran Mushfiqur Rahim ruled out due to a finger injury and the brittle top order was exposed as it collapsed for a lowly 54 in a heavy defeat to a Cricket Australia XI in a warm-up match on the weekend at the same venue.
This opening fixture launches a gruelling schedule for Australia of 20 Test matches over the next 12 months, with the possibility of an additional World Test Championship final if they qualify.
After the second test against Bangladesh, Australia travel for a three-Test series in South Africa in October, before hosting New Zealand for four tests in the southern summer.
They then have a five-Test series in India before a one-off day-night Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March to mark the 150th anniversary of matches between the two countries. Then there's an away Ashes campaign beginning in June to bring the marathon campaign to a close.