Questions for selectors as Shield winds down

As Mitchell Marsh was teeing off down the Adelaide Oval fairway, or when David Warner and Steven Smith fought their running battle with Varun Aaron, Virat Kohli and whoever else came within earshot of the Australian pair, it was easy to forget that Australia's dominant position had been established by a few rather than many.

Warner, Smith, Michael Clarke and Nathan Lyon have been the primary contributors to four strong days, leaving the national selectors with a few issues to ponder on a day that also concluded the concurrent Sheffield Shield round. Unless you are playing a Test match, there will be no more long-form cricket available in Australia until the Big Bash League concludes in February.

This adds a little more urgency to the queries created in the past four days, even if it would seem hasty to rush to judgment.

It would be more comfortable to simply appreciate the quality of Warner's performance, as the first twin centurion at Adelaide Oval since Dean Jones against Pakistan in 1989-90. It would be more pleasant to marvel at the surging Smith, who is now as difficult to dismiss as he was once considered easy prey for England during the 2010-11 summer. And it would be appropriate as well to acknowledge Lyon, who was rewarded for his hard graft on day three with a trio of wickets on the fourth morning and five in all.

But the encroaching BBL and issues of both fitness and form will be puzzled over by Rod Marsh and his panel, as the remaining India Tests afford an opportunity to make changes to the team if they feel it is required. After the SCG Test there will be three months devoted to the World Cup, but beyond that tournament lies a tour of the West Indies and then a quest to retain the Ashes in England, something not achieved by Australia since 2001.

Chris Rogers, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Peter Siddle will vex Marsh's men for widely varying reasons. As close to an England specialist as exists in Australia, Rogers is presently in the midst of a post-Ashes downturn in which his admirable Port Elizabeth hundred against South Africa is becoming an increasingly salient performance. He did not look uncomfortable in the second innings here, and opening stands of 50 and 38 with Warner were not exactly disastrous.

But the question Marsh and his counterparts must ask themselves is whether they can see Rogers' focus and desire stretching on as strongly into August and September as it might be right now. At his best, physically and mentally, Rogers remains in the team. The question is whether, having already admitted he can see his career finish line resting somewhere around the Oval Test, Rogers has it in him to maintain that. Warner hopes so.

"Bucky [Rogers] trains hard, he works hard and he knows he's got to dig deep and score runs when it's needed," Warner said. "We'd been winning Test matches, it was tough in the UAE for all of us, and Chris has got to keep being positive as much as he can, get back in the nets and keep working at his game and that's what he does. He's scored over 20,000 first-class runs, he knows how to score them, and I back him to come out in Brisbane and do that."

For Clarke, the question of his back remains open. The most intriguing element of Clarke's battle is not whether he can get himself limber enough to take the field - a combination of painkilling injections, constant treatment by the physio Alex Kountouris and the considerable motivation to push on after the fashion of his departed friend Phillip Hughes will all drive him on.

What is more doubtful is whether the compromises he made with his technique on day two in Adelaide will be sustainable in circumstances where the pitch isn't quite so flat, the bowlers tired nor the scoreboard dominant. Walking in to bat at say 2 for 10 at the Gabba would not allow Clarke anywhere near the liberties he was able to take in partnership with Smith, so he must be able to prove a wider range of movement.

Save for a transient bout of stomach trouble for Siddle, neither he nor Watson have the physical or mental difficulties outlined above. Both should be in their best shape for some time, having spent time working on their games in the off-season. In the case of Watson, a pair of missed tours due to a minor ankle complaint have ensured he is fresh. But underwhelming displays in Adelaide will start to pose the question of how long the selectors can wait for these two men to find the thread of their best form. Time will tell, but how much do they have?

The likes of Shaun Marsh, Ed Cowan, Joe Burns, Ryan Carters and Josh Hazlewood have given the national selectors reason to remember them before the Shield takes its long hiatus. Over the next 48 hours there will be discussion and a conclusion - is there time to stick, or a compulsion to twist.