Matt Short is preparing to pack his bags and take life to Adelaide for the coming months as the long-awaited cricket season fires up.
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It was confirmed late last week that the first four rounds of Australia's men's first-class competition - the Sheffield Shield - will be held in South Australia through October and November.
That will mean Short and his Victorian teammates are based interstate for the early part of the campaign.
"We leave on Monday to Adelaide and have a two-week quarantine and then we have got three or four Shield games until mid-November," the Ballarat export said.
"At this stage I'm going to stay over there for the start of the Big Bash in Adelaide.
"There's talk of the Big Bash being hubbed as well, but the schedule for that hasn't come out yet so we will just wait and see."
Short played last Big Bash for the Adelaide Strikers after making the move from the Melbourne Renegades and will again saddle up for the South Australian-based Twenty20 franchise in 2020-21.
Short said he was likely set for a four-month stint in Adelaide for Victorian and Strikers commitments.
"We can't wait," Short said.
"It has sort of been a dragged out pre-season (for Victoria) so we are looking forward to getting over there and playing some cricket."
Short's last competitive game of cricket was in March, but he has kept busy during the COVID-19 pandemic with plenty of training while based in Melbourne.
"I would have had maybe April and May off and then June, July and August was pretty much the main pre-season block of training. More fitness and stuff during those months and especially the last month or so has been more skills," he said.
"We've had a bit of decent weather down here so we've got the turf up and had a couple of practice games - just intra-club games - which has been good."
Short, a right-handed batsman and part-time off-spinner, was a regular for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield last season, which saw New South Wales awarded the title when COVID-19 ended the competition early.
The Strikers finished third on the table, but were knocked out of the finals before the decider.