Cam Bancroft is ready to bounce back from a scoreless match and is eyeing off a reunion with Queensland’s Michael Neser as soon as Sunday, according to opening partner Sam Whiteman.

Western Australia has begun its chase for a fourth straight Sheffield Shield title with a draw against Queensland at the WACA Ground.

But the first round of the shield has been played in front of the backdrop of looming openings in Australia’s Test team, with Bancroft one of the lead contenders if selectors opt to recruit a top-order batsman.

The domestic run machine scored a rare pair in the clash in a dent to his hopes of a recall.

“I’m assuming he’ll be opening on Sunday, so I’m sure we’ll get the match up again,” Whiteman said.

“He’s so resilient, he’s been through so much in his career. He’ll be fine.”

Selectors will give the first glimpse at their plans when they name a one-day squad and Australia A side early next week.

Whiteman said he had no communication with the panel over that series, but in Melbourne Marcus Harris confirmed he would play.

The two teams shook hands at around 4pm on Friday, with WA nine wickets shy of winning the match and the Bulls 242 runs short of an unlikely chase.

Whiteman declared at 6-263 with less than two sessions remaining on the final day. Bulls captain Marnus Labuschagne said he was surprised the hosts didn’t make a more aggressive declaration

But the WA skipper defended the move and said the wicket, which had shown no signs of deterioration, pushed them into a more conservative play.

“We thought about it, we just tried to assess this morning how the boys were feeling in the middle and the feedback was it was a pretty good wicket and if you got in, the ball runs away pretty quickly,” he said.

“So we played it on the safe side. They have got a pretty dangerous batting order and our bowlers did a lot of work yesterday (Thursday) as well.”

It means the three-time reigning champions in both the four-day and one-day formats are winless from their first three matches across both competitions.

That’s ahead of Sunday’s 50-over match against the Bulls and their next shield assignment at home against Tasmania.

They are hopeful of welcoming back Aaron Hardie and Joel Paris from soft tissue injuries.

Lance Morris will miss Sunday’s 50-over match — and the shield clash with Tasmania — after injuring his quad this week.

The West Australian understands the speedster is targeting a one-day match against the Tigers on October 25 for a return.

Teenage paceman Mahli Beardman, who was a bolt-from-the-blue pick in Australia’s white-ball squad last month, has been called into WA’s 12-man squad.

Josh Inglis was named player-of-the-match with scores of 122 and 48.

Mitch Marsh and Hilton Cartwright continued after steadying a wobbly ship on Thursday afternoon. Marsh raced past his half-century and towards a ton, but the all-rounder skied a ball he hoped to park on the western bank and was caught at fine-leg on 94.

WA went at a run rate only a touch quicker than Queensland did while they were chasing a draw while Inglis and Cooper Connolly were at the crease.

Matthew Renshaw missed the chance to impress national selectors, falling for 15, but it was the only inroad WA made.

Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne, who have their Test spots down in permanent marker, saw out the rest of the day. Khawaja made 64.

Victoria and Tasmania also shook hands on a limp draw at Junction Oval and New South Wales and South Australia shared the points in Sydney.