A specially prepared pitch of Queensland red clay is helping preparations for the Sri Lanka tour and future visits to the subcontinent
Baked Brissie clay puts Aussies in the mood
Australia's defence of their hard-won and much-prized number one Test ranking has begun in earnest, on an uncharacteristically bare strip of baked red dirt set amid an otherwise verdant playing field in Brisbane.
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With the touring party for the Test team's next assignment – the three-match Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka beginning in early July – to be announced later today, likely members of that squad have already started preparing for conditions they expect to find on the subtropical island.
And that acclimatisation process has been accelerated by the preparation of a subcontinent-style pitch in the centre wicket block of Ray Lindwall Oval, which is part of the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane's inner north.
The 'spin pitch' has been created by the ground staff at Allan Border Field where Queensland Cricket is also based, using clay-based soil sourced from a region of the state three hours west of the capital.
While it is unfeasible and unrealistic to produce a training facility that exactly replicates conditions the Australians will encounter in upcoming Tests at Kandy, Galle and Colombo, the very un-Brisbane pitch has received an early thumbs up from batters and bowlers.
Test opener Joe Burns, who has not previously played in Sri Lanka but was second-highest run-scorer on the Australia A tour to India last year, described it as "a great resource" after sessions against seamers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as well as the spinners.
And off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who will spearhead Australia's spin attack as they attempt to reverse a string of four Test series defeats from five starts in Asian conditions (including the UAE) over the past decade, was excited by his first outing on the surface last week.
"It's been pretty impressive to be honest," Lyon told cricket.com.au after a couple of sessions in which he bowled in tandem with fellow finger spinner Steve O'Keefe and tested out Australia 'keeper Peter Nevill with both bat and gloves.
"It's quite close to a splash of Mohali and Chennai, I know they've tried to replicate Chennai but it's a good wicket and here in Australia it's probably as close as we're going to get to a subcontinent wicket.
"I know Steve O'Keefe and I really enjoyed bowling on it and Pete Nevill had a good hit, and was keeping to us on it as well.
"So it's ticked a box so far."
Even though the pitch's base is baked red clay that offers pronounced turn for the spinners, it also sports a covering of grass that is expected to mirror the conditions that seam bowlers will find on the opening days of Tests in Sri Lanka.
Burns, who completed a career-high 170 in his most recent Test appearance against New Zealand in Christchurch where Australia secured the ICC's number one ranking, is undertaking a lengthy pre-Sri Lanka training regime in Brisbane given he is not part of the ODI squad that heads to the West Indies this week.
And as he learned when he was struck by Starc, who has returned to full pace in recent weeks after completing rehabilitation from last year's ankle surgery, it is not simply the old ball that will provide challenges for batters despite the reputation of subcontinent pitches as being lower and slower.
"I had my first hit on it yesterday, and from what I've played on in India I thought it was a great representation of playing on the subcontinent," Burns told cricket.com.au.
"It looks like an Indian wicket and seemed to play like an Indian wicket, so for me personally it's a great resource to have in Brisbane given that I live in Brisbane.
"So to be able to come in as much as I can and train in those conditions, it's the best possible training I can think of as opposed to going to India or going to Sri Lanka and training before the Test matches.
"I've never been to Sri Lanka, but I've played a little bit in India and I really enjoy playing in those conditions.
"I enjoy batting on the lower, slower wickets, and trying to develop and adapt your game keeps me really refreshed going into training with a new focus and a new challenge of something that's not as familiar as playing in Australia.
"I know we speak all the time about how the Australian cricket team needs to be better on the subcontinent, and I guess this is just another challenge to test ourselves and where we're at."
After being caught short in swinging, seaming conditions in the UK last year, which resulted in a 3-2 Ashes series loss to England, Australia faces an altogether different assignment in Sri Lanka (July-August) and then a four-Test series in India immediately after the coming home summer.
The fact that seven of their next 13 Tests will be played in Asian conditions means Steve Smith's team's claim to the world's top Test ranking will be decided by their capacity to master the subcontinental conditions that have proved Australia's downfall so often in recent decades.
Over the past 50 years, Australia have won 19 of the 70 Tests they have played in Asia (including Tests against Pakistan in neutral venues in the UAE).
To help address that imbalance, Cricket Australia installed a synthetic pitch made from rubberised 'grass' at Ray Lindwall Oval in a bid to create a low maintenance replica of the sort of conditions found on the subcontinent.
But this latest additional innovation provides a more traditional Test match surface that is likely to wear in a similar manner to a five-day strip in India or Sri Lanka, and thereby give batters, bowlers and 'keepers first-hand experience before they embark on overseas campaigns.
For Lyon and O'Keefe, who are likely to carry a bulk of the bowling workload if selected to play in tandem in Sri Lanka, it will provide a chance to work out strategies against batters the likes of Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews and India's Virat Kohli who have grown up on a regular diet of spin bowling.
"They are quality players of spin and hopefully we can bowl well in partnerships," Lyon said of the impending challenges on Sri Lankan and Indian soil.
"It is exciting, I've played a lot of cricket with SOK (O'Keefe) down at the (BBL franchise Sydney) Sixers, with New South Wales and with Australia as well.
"We've got a really good friendship, we get along great, we work well together, we're similar but different so we really bowl well together.
"It's proven for New South Wales, and it would have been exciting to bowl together in the last couple of days of that Sydney Test (against the West Indies last January) if it wasn't rain affected."