Cricket Australia has come up with a long-term plan to have their best players in action for so-called high profile series, while matches that are deemed less important will be used to develop new players.
Cricket Australia's team performance chief Pat Howard said the formal introduction of different selection guidelines for different opponents and formats will take the new rotation system to another level.
The new rotation policy is sure to provoke debate given Australia last month lost a Test to eighth-ranked New Zealand in what was earmarked as a development series.
"We do look at different series differently and obviously we took the Indian series very much about trying to drive performance, so if a player was touch and go we'd probably push him for this series knowing that if we had to rest him for part of the ODI series, so be it. For New Zealand we took more of a conservative approach, took the chance to get people right," Howard told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"There are risks associated with that and we have to keep that balance. Without question we want to win every series and we're never going to go in with a B-team against anybody, that's for sure. But we will take the opportunity to introduce players. The upside [of losing to New Zealand] is that we got to see David Warner at his best," he said.
Australia also risks being accused of disrespecting lower-ranked opponents if it doesn't pick the best available players for every series, but Howard pointed to the stunning entrance of James Pattinson against New Zealand as evidence that players developed in such series could quickly become first-choice players.
Howard did not divulge which series had been identified as the most important but they would naturally include those against England, India and South Africa, who at the moment are ranked above Australia on the ICC table.
The new plan, which also sets out Australia's priorities for limited-overs series and tournaments such as the Twenty20 World Cup, is consistent with CA's approach to injury management following the Argus review.
