Saturday Serve: Prime Minister's XI fading into irrelevance

Once a genuine chance for players to prove their worth to Australian selectors, it now has little, if any bearing on higher honours.

If we keep going down this path, it will eventually go the way of rugby league's City v Country Origin fixture, which is preparing for a one-stop farewell tour in Mudgee next May.

If the PM's XI isn't scheduled at the right time, there is serious danger of it fading into obscurity.

This summer the PM's XI has been tacked on the end of a busy summer of cricket, to be played as a Twenty20 for the first time against Sri Lanka on February 15.

It will be played two days before Australia's three match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka begins in Melbourne. By that stage the national side will have already been picked.

Cricket Australia published the schedule for next season on Tuesday, and again it is the same story.

Canberra missed out on international content for next summer despite the ACT government's four-year deal with Cricket Australia to have an international played at Manuka Oval every season.

The PM's XI returns to its mantle as the premier fixture on the Cricket ACT calendar next year, but it will be played just one day before the start of a Twenty20 tri-series between Australia, New Zealand and England.

Again, it will have no bearing on international selection.

There is the argument that it will give young players a maiden representative cap — obviously barring state honours — but that is exactly what has been said about City-Country for years.

City-Country was once a genuine selection trial for the New South Wales State of Origin team, but soon enough it will be a distant memory.

Cricket purists will want the PM's XI to be played every season. Rugby league purists wanted the same fate for City-Country.

But if the PM's XI isn't scheduled properly, where it can still be used as a legitimate pathway for higher honours, is there really much point in having it?

Last season the PM's XI match was played before the first Test series of the summer, and featured legitimate baggy green hopefuls Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and Cameron Bancroft, all looking to impress the national selectors.

That is what this fixture needs, however, there is room for both serious Australian contenders and young players looking to make their mark.

Peter Handscomb is evidence of that.

Handscomb has played for the PM's XI on a number of occasions and has just registered his maiden Test century for Australia at The Gabba.

If the game is scheduled properly, and selectors find the right balance in the squad, there is always room for the PM's XI fixture.

For at least the next two summers, Canberra won't get to see a shootout between batsmen looking to force their way into the Australian team.

The best fans can hope for is a disgruntled player looking to prove why he shouldn't have been left out of the national side.

Next season's contest will be against England, traditionally the annual fixture's biggest drawcard, but players won't be a big score or a bag of wickets away from an immediate spot in the Australian team.

In a sign of the times the game will be played as a Twenty20 for the second year running, this time on a Friday night on February 2, 2017.

That is all well and good leading into a Twenty20 international series, but it doesn't make it a selection trial by any means — the Australian squad will already be in camp.

If it is to be played as a Twenty20, play it well in advance of a Twenty20 series to give someone a shot at knocking down the door of the national side.

Otherwise, play it as a one-dayer.

Canberra is getting more international cricket in the coming years — the nation's capital will host a Test match in the 2018-19 summer.

But if the PM's XI was to be lost, it would undoubtedly be a hollow feeling for Canberra fans.

Many youngsters in Canberra get their first taste of elite cricket at the PM's XI — it's the same story for rugby league fans in country New South Wales.

When the full-time whistle is blown on City-Country in Mudgee on May 7, the curtain will be brought down on a concept spawned over a century ago.

There was always something special about City-Country — as Reg Reagan once put it: "It was blokes with names like Jason trying to beat City boys with names like Braith."

But the City-Country flame is dying out.

So get the scheduling right — reinstate the PM's XI as a launching pad for higher honours, or watch it die a slow death.