Glenn Maxwell's hopes of a long-awaited return to Test cricket have been given a boost with Australia head coach Andrew McDonald putting the hard-hitting all-rounder in the selection frame for the Sri Lanka series.
Maxwell, 36, played the last of his seven Tests against Bangladesh in 2017 and missed out on selection for the four-Test series in India last year after suffering a broken leg at a party.
While not being considered for the five-Test home series against India, Maxwell could be picked specially for the conditions in Sri Lanka for two Tests slated for January and February next year.
"I think if you looked at the last two Test matches in Pakistan and India, the ability to play on that horizontal plane sweeping and reverse sweeping, I think will be a critical skill if the conditions are extreme," McDonald told reporters on Thursday.
"Does he (Maxwell) fit that profile? 100% he fits that profile.
"The big challenge for Maxi is clearly his body and whether he can get through Test cricket, and what that may look like on the back of BBL (Big Bash League)."
Maxwell has starred with bat and ball in Australia's white ball teams since coming back from his broken leg last year.
However, he is not among the players being considered to replace injured all-rounder Cameron Green and retired opener David Warner for the India series starting in Perth next month.
Selectors will pick the squad following Australia A's two games against India A, the first of which started in Mackay on Thursday.
India, who have beaten Australia in their last four test series, are licking their wounds after suffering their first home series defeat in 12 years against New Zealand.
McDonald said he took little comfort from India's struggles ahead of the Australian home summer.
"I don't think it will have great relevance," he said.
"I think the conditions are ... extremely different.
"They're very well-versed here in Australia, they've had a great record here, they've got some great players.
"Any time great players are stunned they tend to bounce back, so we're wary of that."
The Australian men's cricket team that will take on India in a five-match Test series from November 22 is one of the country's oldest but McDonald is aiming at a smooth transition by the time his freshly renewed contract expires in 2027.
The average age of the Australian team is around 33 and in the next couple of years, there could be a mass exodus just like it happened in the late 2000s when Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee all retired one after the other.
According to cricket.com.au "with Travis Head (in December last year) and Marnus Labuschagne (June) both recently celebrating their 30th birthdays and, with incumbent Cameron Green unavailable for the coming home season after back surgery, Pat Cummins could lead a team that features all 11 players older than 30 if Marcus Harris or Cameron Bancroft gets the nod to open the batting."
McDonald understands the implication of an ageing team and is already thinking about the way forward.
"People take it back to 2007 when mass players have exited and they've struggled to obviously perform at the same level – we're not beholden to the past," McDonald told reporters on Thursday.
"I think if you get the selections right on the back of players exiting, then the transition is lot smoother."
In suggesting "one-day cricket can be the bridge to Test cricket", McDonald forecasted the likelihood of leading Test players continuing to sit out bilateral limited-overs series on occasions.
The current Australian red-ball side comprises seven players, who are all aged between 33 and 37.
Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey all are 33, while Mitchell Starc (34), Steve Smith (35), Nathan Lyon (36) and Usman Khawaja (37) are reaching the fag end of their careers.
McDonald believes in a senior cricketer helping out a junior to ease into the set-up in the transition process, and as long as a senior performs, there is no reason to change it.
"We're big believers that within that -- if you want to call it transition -- that the older, more experienced players assist those younger players when they come through the changeroom," he said.
"So it's about making sure that we don't exit senior players too soon and lose that knowledge within that playing group. That's incredibly important for us to get that balance right," he added.
McDonald called it "future proofing" the team.
"Our mindset is always about … future proofing in the team. We've had opportunities in bilateral (white-ball) series to expose that next generation.
"Test cricket has been slightly different, we have been really settled and almost predictable in the way that we have gone about it. That's not a bad thing … we're number one in the Test rankings.
"It's very hard to change a settled team that's performing really well."
