Test hopefuls set for white-ball battle at Manuka Oval as bat off continues

The opener will turn out for the Sydney Thunder in their Twenty20 clash with the Brisbane Heat at Manuka Oval on Tuesday night, just days after scoring a half century in the four-day Prime Minister's XI clash at the same ground.

If all goes to plan, Bancroft will spend the next month in the Big Bash before returning to the Test arena for Australia's first match against the West Indies in mid-January.

That, of course, is dependant on the 31-year-old being selected for the two-game series after David Warner's retirement in Sydney.

While Bancroft acknowledges the transition between Twenty20 and Test cricket is a challenging one, the opener is confident he has enough experience to adapt to the different formats.

"The challenge for the modern cricketer is being able to chop and change between the formats," Bancroft said.

"It's not an easy thing to do, there's not a lot of players that are good at it so it's a challenge for all players that have to do that but it's what the modern-day game asks you to go.

"I'll prepare for the Thunder and adapt to what I need to do depending on what happens in the future."

Bancroft was one of a number of Prime Minister's XI players to remain in Canberra following the abandonment of the final day of play on Saturday, with six players likely to feature in Tuesday's Big Bash clash.

Nathan McAndrew will also line up for the Thunder while Matt Renshaw, Jimmy Peirson, Nathan McSweeney and Jordan Buckingham are set to feature for the Heat.

The players have adopted various methods to prepare for the Twenty20 game, with Renshaw opting for some time on the golf course to mentally refresh following a tough few days in the Canberra sun.

"Fortunately we're playing here on Tuesday so I don't have to travel," Renshaw said. "Sunday morning [was] a golf round, Monday will be a golf round and then Monday afternoon will be a bit of a slog in the nets to try and work it out.

"We all bat enough now that we can see the ball, we've just got to work out the plans, what the other bowlers are going to do and work out how to score runs."

While Bancroft was the early leader for the Test spot, Renshaw made the selectors' job more challenging with an unbeaten century for the Prime Minister's XI.

The situation puts Big Bash clubs in a tricky predicament, the teams eager to see their players earn Australian selection but not thrilled about losing them to representative honours.

Should Bancroft be picked, the Thunder have a ready made replacement waiting in the wings, Warner himself.

It's a unique quirk that will see the side gain a significant boost for the second half of the season.

Emerging wicket keeper-batsman Matt Gilkes had a taste of playing alongside Warner last summer and said the entire Thunder squad will benefit from the veteran's presence in the lead up to the finals in January.

"It was awesome to have him around the group last year," Gilkes said. "He provides a lot of experience with the amount of cricket he's played so to have him around will be fantastic.

"I'll watch the way he goes about it and talk to him about his plans to different bowlers, the way he tries to go about it.

"It was awesome to go out there and open the batting with him last year, speak with him while out there in the middle, it was super handy to have."