Twilight Sheffield Shield matches in front-ended schedule

Twilight Sheffield Shield matches will be tried again this summer as part of the push towards night Test cricket, in an Australian domestic schedule heavily influenced by the expansion of the Twenty20 Big Bash League.

Night Shield cricket was first experimented with in 1994 but the administrative desire to take Test cricket into the night has driven a return to the gambit, which will take place in a handful of matches played in the states that take part in daylight saving adjustments to local time.

Shield and limited-overs matches have been heavily weighted towards the first part of the season, with each state having to play six of 10 regular first-class fixtures by the first week of December.

This imbalance has been imposed in order to allow the BBL to operate without any crossover with the demands of the state associations between December 17 and January 28, as numerous players leave their states to play elsewhere for the manufactured city-based teams unveiled for the T20 competition.

Australia's players will face the hurdle of having to choose between the polar extremes of Test matches or T20 throughout the show-piece home series against India.

The jump between formats will open plenty of questions in terms of tactical adjustments and physical conditioning should the selectors decide to make changes to the team that will face India, as seems likely.

A more positive outcome of the schedule is that domestic aspirants for Test selection will get a significant chance to press their claims ahead of the series against New Zealand and India.

Matches will be played in a handful of regional centres also, with Queensland to host a one-day fixture in Mackay while New South Wales play in Canberra.

The domestic limited-overs competition has been reduced in size in another concession to T20, as each team will play eight preliminary matches rather than 10.

Fixtures will revert to 50 overs after last summer's experiment with a split-innings format, but other playing conditions will be more experimental in nature.

Bowlers will be allowed to bowl a maximum of 13 overs rather than the traditional 10, and the batting Powerplay will have to be taken between overs 16 and 40, a change soon to be implemented in international limited overs matches.

Also announced is the schedule for the hotly-debated Futures League second tier competition, which reverts to four-day matches with no over restrictions.

The number of players allowed over the age of 23 has also been doubled from three to six, allowing young cricketers a better chance to learn from more experienced teammates.