In fact, it could be as close as this weekend, with Tasmania opening its four-day campaign in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield against Western Australia at the WACA today.

Bailey will get to spend more time in charge of Tasmania this summer after stepping away from his responsibilities as Australia's Twenty20 captain.

The former South Launceston batsman is coming off a poor ODI tour against Pakistan, scoring just 46 runs at 15.3, and the domestic one-day cup where he scored 53 in three innings, twice coming in without time to build an innings.

"'He is really focused on putting some good four-day performances together, as his short-term goal is to get back into that Test team," Marsh said of his 32-year-old skipper.

"The only way he is going to do that, and you can see in the way he is carrying himself at the moment, he's really determined to do that.

"He's been getting starts, but a four-day opportunity will give him the opportunity to build an innings, and he's shown he can do that in the past.

"If he can spend some quality time out in the middle, there will be some runs for him."

There are two Shield games scheduled for Tasmania before the first game of the five-match ODI series against South Africa, where Bailey will be vice-captain.

He will get another two matches against the red ball before the domestic summer converts into Twenty20 mode for the Big Bash League.

Meanwhile, Western Australia's former Test batsman Shaun Marsh will make his first-class return after surgery on his left elbow, with former South Australian skipper Michael Klinger making his first-class Warriors debut.

Tasmania has included potential debutants Hamish Kingston, Dom Michael and Timm van der Gugten in its squad.

Today's match starts at 1.30pm.

TASMANIA: George Bailey (c), Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Fekete, Evan Gulbis, Hamish Kingston, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Jordan Silk, Timm van der Gugten, Beau Webster, Jon Wells.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Adam Voges (c), Shaun Marsh (vc), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Marcus Harris, Michael Hogan, Michael Klinger, Simon Mackin, Nathan Rimmington, Sam Whiteman.