No selection guarantees have been given to prized England import Craig Kieswetter by the Brisbane Heat.

And it seems he wouldn’t have it any other way in what looms as an intriguing rivalry with Heat teammate and one of Queensland cricket’s favourite sons Chris Hartley in the Big Bash League.

The big-hitting Kieswetter won round one in his battle for the Heat gloves when he denied Hartley a nod for Sunday night’s Gabba opener, a BBL grand final re-match with Perth Scorchers.

But Heat coach Stuart Law admitted replacing Kieswetter with Hartley on slower wickets at Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney was on the cards during Brisbane’s title defence.

“Chris is one of the premier wicketkeepers around Australia,” Law said.

“He is an important member of the team.”

Kieswetter said Hartley shook his hand after the first team was announced but knew the pint-sized gloveman would be putting up a fight.

“Competition is something you need to get better otherwise you lose the fighting edge you need to be a high quality performer,” said Kieswetter, a veteran of 25 T20 and 46 one-day internationals for England.

Law refused to bemoan the fact that Ashes duty would deny him his stars Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris although he said in an ideal world there would be a BBL window for Test stars.

“Of course it would be nice to have them in our side but first things first – they need to win an Ashes series 5-0,” he smiled.

Heat seamer Cameron Gannon comes in for Nick Buchanan (side strain).

Scorchers coach Justin Langer has been hit by the withdrawal of Windies import Dwayne Smith (personal reasons) but backed allrounder Mitch Marsh to fire in his first BBL campaign.

“He is a very dangerous player. We will be looking at giving him more responsibility this series and see what he has got,” Langer said.