The Sheffield Shield season will run from October 3, 2023, until the final on March 21-25, 2024. There will be six Shield rounds before the first Test but the last of those six games begins on November 28 to accommodate the BBL starting earlier on December 7. That may mean that Australia's multi-format players are likely to go without a red-ball game before the Pakistan Test series with the 50-over World Cup set to run from October 5 until November 19 in India. Australia are scheduled to then stay in India and play a five-match T20I series straight after the completion of the World Cup, prior to the home Test series against Pakistan.