Australia's fringe white-ball players will have the chance to showcase their worth when the three-match ODI series against Pakistan gets underway in Lahore this week.
Fresh from posting a confidence-boosting 1-0 Test series win over Pakistan, Australia enters the white ball component of the tour severely undermanned.
Star pace trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood will all be rested from the series, along with veteran David Warner.
Steve Smith was ruled out this week due to an elbow injury, while Glenn Maxwell is another big name that is missing.
Ben McDermott, who has just two ODIs to his name, could be given another crack at the top of the order in the absence of Warner.
And Smith's exit could open the door for Marnus Labuschagne to play his first ODI since 2020.
Travis Head, who played the last of his 42 ODIs in 2018, will also be eyeing off a return, with the series to begin on Tuesday (AEDT).
The pace situation looms as the biggest hole to fill given the absence of Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood.
Nathan Ellis is in the squad and could make his debut, while left-arm speedster Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson, and Sean Abbott will be all aiming to impress if given the chance.
Spinner Ashton Agar has struggled for opportunities of late in the ODI set-up and will be hoping to earn a gig alongside fellow tweaker Adam Zampa.
Australia boast three genuine allrounders in the squad - Mitch Marsh, Cam Green, and Marcus Stoinis, and intrigue surrounds just how many can fit into the final XI.
Marsh's recent white-ball heroics means he's an automatic inclusion, while Stoinis and Green boast match-winning potential that will be hard to overlook.
Australia only played three ODIs in 2021, a 2-1 series victory in the West Indies.
The upcoming series against Pakistan looms as an important early stepping stone leading into the 2023 50-over World Cup in India.
"A lot of our guys aren't really exposed to it, because even in Australia in domestic cricket, we don't play a lot of one-day cricket," Zampa said.
"It's a different format, we've got to get our head around it and get our head around preparation for the next World Cup, which isn't too far away now."
