Second rate? Give us a break: Why the PM's XI matters more than the Big Bash

It makes the Twenty20 competition look second rate, they say, when six players have to pull out of the BBL season opener to play a four-day game at Manuka Oval.

Forget the fact the Prime Minister's XI game against Pakistan looms as a genuine selection trial for places in Australia's Test XI.

Or the fact the storied fixture has rediscovered its place in the Australian cricket landscape after years of uncertainty.

The Prime Minister's XI finally matters again. This is the format Cricket Australia should settle on. Use the fixture as a four-day Australia A game before the first Test, giving rival nations a tune-up and local talent a chance to showcase themselves.

Cricket Australia cannot afford to bow to the pressure of BBL clubs. Anyone worried about its implications on a Twenty20 competition for three nights can take a backseat.

Players named in the Prime Minister's XI squad to face Pakistan from December 6-9 will be ruled out of the first three nights of the BBL season, which begins on December 7.

Six players will be missing from the BBL season opener, with the Heat losing Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Nathan McSweeney and Michael Neser and the Stars to be without Mark Steketee and Beau Webster.

Heat officials have been left fuming with the club to miss four key players for their opening two matches with a clash against the Adelaide Strikers to follow on December 9.

You wonder where Renshaw would rather be: chasing a Test recall in Canberra or playing a Twenty20 game in Brisbane.

Worried the BBL season opener will be robbed of star power capable of drawing a crowd and bumper broadcast ratings?

Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne will play for Brisbane before heading into camp with the Australian Test team on December 9.

Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, fresh off Australia's one-day World Cup win and a Twenty20 series in India, are expected to join the Stars in time to start the Big Bash campaign.

Reports suggest Big Bash officials were told the Prime Minister's team would essentially be a development side with minimal disruption to the Twenty20 league.

But Australian selectors need to find the heir to David Warner's throne with one of the greatest openers of all time set to bid farewell to Test cricket at the SCG in January.

Cameron Bancroft has emerged as the favourite to replace Warner at the top of the order after scoring 505 runs at 63.12 to start the Sheffield Shield season.

So he joins Renshaw and Victorian Marcus Harris in Canberra for one final audition in the final first-class game on the calendar before the Test summer and Big Bash begin.

What was once Canberra's jewel in the crown had struggled to find an identity as more elite cricket came to town. Squads boasted little marquee value and crowds dwindled.

Former Australian captain Allan Border once said using the Prime Minister's XI as a genuine national selection trial was the way to revive interest in the fixture.

Cricket Australia has realised as much. The BBL is going to be just fine for three nights.