Subcontinent shift begins now: Smith

It's more than two weeks since we arrived in Colombo to start this Test match leg of our Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka, and there's a good reason why we've had such a long lead-in before the first Test begins at Pallekele on Tuesday.

That's because we haven't performed all that well in subcontinental conditions over recent years, having won just one Test out of the past 15 we've played since 2008, and that's something we're very keen to turn around.

It's been a good lead-in, with a three-day warm-up game against a Sri Lankan XI in Colombo where all the batters were able to spend some time in the middle even though our opponents probably didn't bowl as many overs of spin as we were anticipating.

So when they weren't in the middle, they were working hard in the nets with Sri Lankan legend Murali and our Indian fielding and spin coach 'Sri' (Sridharan Sriram), which was very beneficial.

Before then, we were also able to get some cobwebs out and get acclimatised with a couple of days of training and also a two-day intra-squad practice session with some of the boys from the National Performance Squad who had been on tour in Chennai.

It was a win for both squads to have the NPS lads around the group for a week or so in Colombo.

For us in the Test squad, it was nice to have some fresh faces at training and more bowlers to practice against in the nets and that included a lot of spinners given they'd been especially preparing in spin-friendly conditions in Chennai.

I have to say I was impressed with quite a few of the young spinners, and Queensland leggie Mitchell Swepson caught my eye in the sessions where I saw him bowl.

He puts a lot of revs on the ball and he was pretty accurate as well.

He's obviously still very young but if he continues to develop as quickly as he has already, then I think he's got a bright future.

Hilton Cartwright from WA was another who stood out, partly because he's such a strong guy who clearly likes to give the ball a whack as we've seen in the Matador One-Day Cup and the Sheffield Shield.

From the perspective of the NPS guys, I think it was a great chance for them to see how we prepare as an Australian Test team and to get a picture of the expectations that come when we're entering a major series overseas.

I think they were impressed to see how hard we work, and hopefully that will help to drive them when they get back to the NPS games and to their states to keep improving and to work as hard as they can to get to where we are now.

I got the impression they were all soaking it up and learning a lot by seeing how we go about our business.

I'm not sure how much of an eye-opener Colombo was for them after they had already spent time in Chennai, but it certainly took us a bit of time to get used to the heat and the humidity there, which is another reason why we arrived so far ahead of the first Test.

Quick Single: Warner preaches patience in Kandy

The subcontinent is a great place to tour.

The places we go to, it's easy to see how much the locals love their cricket and they come out and watch our great game in big numbers so hopefully we'll see some strong, noisy crowds at the Tests and limited-overs matches coming up.

The food is certainly a bit different to what we get back home, but all the guys embrace the local food and the local culture as much as we can.

Everyone eats what's on offer at the hotel buffet or out at local restaurants when we get a chance, and because of its size Colombo was great in terms of the different food options that were available.

In fact, Murali put on a dinner for us at the hotel here in Kandy on Saturday night that included a fantastic local Sri Lankan dish called chicken kothu that was a hit with the boys.

The night also included a fairly competitive quiz that was eventually won by the team including Peter Nevill, Josh Hazlewood, our physiotherapist David Beakley, analyst Dene Hills and Sri.

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Because we're playing and training a lot in the heat – and that can take a lot of out of you – I usually just try and unwind and stay inside in the air-conditioning when we do get some downtime.

Occasionally it's nice to get out of the hotel and take in a bit of the local colour, but I haven't really had a chance to do that so far with our focus very much on the upcoming Tests, especially now that we've arrived in Kandy and the first match is just a few days away.

With the acclimatising and training that we've done, the guys are pretty much ready to play.

We just have to fine-tune a few things to make sure we're fresh and ready for the first Test.

The weather is a bit cooler and less humid up here in the hills and where the Test will be played near Kandy, so in addition to our last couple of training sessions it's just a matter of us having a look at the wicket, summing up how we want to play and having our plans in place.

Quick Single: Captain Cook splits opinion

Particularly against Sri Lanka's spinners, and then making sure we stick to those plans from ball one.

We're all excited by what lies ahead, partly because it's been a while since we last played Test cricket in New Zealand in February and it's great to have this group – which has already shown what it's capable of achieving – back together again.

As captain leading my first Test tour in subcontinental conditions, I'm hopeful that we can learn a lot from the way that we've played on these sorts of pitches previously and change the things that haven't worked for us.

I've got a few different ideas of how to approach things as captain, and they revolve around the different way the components of the game get broken up in conditions like Sri Lanka, India and the UAE.

For example, the ball can swing quite a lot when it's new but once the shine is off and it stops moving then that's probably one of the best times to bat, while the ball is still hard.

Quick Single: England dominant over lacklustre Pakistan

So in that phase of the game, as the bowling captain, you need to be a bit more defensive with your field placements to try and slow that scoring and build pressure on the batters.

But then the ball can suddenly to reverse swing or spin a bit, so then you can start attacking to make the most of that shift, and if no results are coming then you have to be prepared to go back to your defensive plans and try to get breakthroughs that way.

The challenge is in finding the right mix of strategies, and the right times to be attacking and then to pull back and be defensive.

For me, as captain, it's really important to recognise instinctively when those moments arrive, to be really adaptable to make sure we seize them when they come and don't allow the game to drift.

I know it will be a real challenge, but I think we're ready to go.