Darren Lehmann has put more than half of Australia’s Test XI on notice following a series defeat to South Africa, guaranteeing there will be changes for next week’s day-night Test.

Lehmann, who sits on the selection panel chaired by Rod Marsh, noted the Sheffield Shield round that starts on Thursday will help shape selectors’ thoughts at what could be a time of generational change.

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The entire Test side, with the exception of pacemen Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Joe Mennie, have been sent back to Shield cricket. Lehmann wouldn’t be drawn on how many changes there could be for the dead rubber but unsurprisingly ruled out the prospect of an unchanged XI.

Starc, Hazlewood, Steve Smith and David Warner appear the only automatic selections. “There’ll definitely be change,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got to stop the rot, we’ve got to work out what’s the best XI.

“Hazlewood was great, Starc’s getting back to his best and then you’ve got Smith and Warner. Outside of that everyone’s got to make some runs and take some wickets. It’s a really important four days of Shield cricket. You’ve got to have an eye to the future as well.”

There have been calls for chairman of selectors Marsh to usher in the next generation of batsmen, with Kurtis Patterson and Peter Handscomb among the uncapped contenders hoping to receive a call later this week.

But the fact is Patterson and Handscomb haven’t been churning out first-class runs and tons as consistently as they or selectors would like. No Australian batsman has.

“We need guys to step up and jump out of the pack, I don’t think there’s anyone doing that at the moment who is averaging 55-60, things like that,” skipper Smith said. “I’m disappointed.

“We need to do things a lot better than they are [at Shield and Test level]. After losing five Test matches, everything is going to be talked about. I dare say the selectors are going to be getting together and on a bit of a mission to change what’s been happening ... rightfully so.”

Adam Voges’ Test career is hanging by a thread. The mode of his dismissal on Tuesday, coupled with a recent lean trot with the bat, suggests he headlines the list of incumbents facing the axe. Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson were likewise unconvincing in the second Test.

Offspinner Nathan Lyon’s form has mirrored Australia’s in a five-Test losing streak, although he has suffered from the side’s batting woes, and former Test opener Chris Rogers tipped it wouldn’t be “anywhere near the same side for the next Test”.

“It’s unbelievable that these collapse keep happening. You expect fight and it’s just not happening,” Rogers said on ABC Radio. “There will be some reactions here. I know some will say you’ve got to give them more than one Test [but] I know some very good one-Test players.”