Aussies face shortage of red-ball cricket

Australia will head into the first Test of the upcoming summer having not played red-ball cricket for almost two-and-a-half months, but captain Steve Smith says his side will be adequately prepared to take on New Zealand.

Australia's Test players have been slotted back into their state squads for this month's Matador BBQ's One-Day Cup in Sydney after the scheduled two-Test tour of Bangladesh was called off due to security reasons.

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The postponement has deprived the Australian side of valuable experience both at Test level and in testing Asian conditions, where Australia have won one of their past 15 Tests.

"It would have been a great opportunity for all these guys to come together and play some cricket, in subcontinental conditions where we haven't done so well, so obviously really disappointing for us," Smith said.

"Really disappointing for the Bangladesh fans as well. I really feel for them.

"They were all looking forward to us coming over, to playing over there so hopefully we can get an opportunity to get over there at some time."

Smith discusses Bangladesh and preparation for the summer

With the Bangladesh series postponed, Australia's Test squad will now prepare for the three-match series against New Zealand with white-ball cricket in the Matador Cup and then against the pink ball in a day-night Sheffield Shield round beginning October 28.

A two-day preparation camp will also be held midway through the Matador Cup, which will give Test players some valuable centre wicket and net practice against the red ball.

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But the fact remains that when the Aussies start the series against the Black Caps at the Gabba on November 5, it will have been 74 days since their most recent match involving a red ball, which was the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval.

And it means that from the Matador Cup final on October 25 to the start of the Test summer 11 days later, they will play with the white ball, then the pink ball and then the red ball.

On the other hand, New Zealand will prepare for the series with a pink-ball one-day game against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, before two-day and four-day matches with the red ball against a CA XI.

"The disappointment obviously is that we have less red-ball opportunities due to the two Tests (being postponed)," said CA Executive General Manager of High Performance Pat Howard.

"That's obviously going to change our plans a little bit.

"The first round of the Sheffield Shield has been moved back one day to make sure (the players) can play in the Matador Cup, do some red-ball preparation (at the two-day camp) but also play in that first day-night Shield round.

"So there are three different coloured balls coming so they're going to have to adapt. But the players love playing cricket and they will adapt and there are different opportunities to present themselves."

Sutherland, Howard discuss Bangladesh tour postponement

The two-day camp is scheduled to take place on October 13 and 14; the 13th is a rest day in the Matador Cup and the 14th will see South Australia take on Tasmania, meaning just two Test squad members – Tigers duo James Faulkner and Andrew Fekete – will be unavailable for the camp.

While disappointed at the shortage of red-ball cricket leading into the Test summer, Howard said players will be as prepared as possible and will have plenty of chances to push their case for selection in the New Zealand series.

"We've done a fair bit of work on an individual basis around that planning to make sure that all the players that were going to Bangladesh, and some of those on the fringe, will be together for that camp in the middle of the Matador Cup," Howard said.

"There has been plenty of precedent where format and form were considered separately when the selectors were thinking about (the squad).

"It's a great opportunity for people to put great cases forward and I think selectors will have a very interesting selection battle at the end of the Matador Cup."

Although the postponement robs Smith and his squad of valuable Test competition, he is adamant the Australians would still be sufficiently prepared to face the ever-improving Black Caps.

"The guys are going to go back and play some Matador Cup (domestic one-day competition), I guess that's a positive out of the situation," Smith said.

"All the Australian players are going to be available, so it's going to be an extremely competitive competition.

"We're going to get an opportunity to play a Shield game before the summer starts so the preparation will be fine."

Smith acknowledged the composition of the side for the first Test against New Zealand may differ from the squad picked for the Bangladesh tour.

"I'm sure they will still be in the frame. I think it's completely different conditions to what we're going to face over there in the subcontinent," Smith said.

"We're going to have to weigh that up and see what the best side is to win the first Test match at the Gabba."