Paine refines his focus amid World Cup hype

While Australia's men's one-day side trained at Lord’s on Friday in preparation for their latest World Cup hit-out, their Test captain was 190km to the west of the English capital, taking a significant step forward in his preparation for the second leg of Australia’s blockbuster winter campaign.

Tim Paine, who has been with the Australia A squad for the past two weeks as a non-playing member, strapped on his white pads, marked centre and faced up to tearaway fast bowler James Pattinson with a brand-new Dukes ball on the centre square of Bristol's County Ground.

For close to an hour, Paine faced the combination of the rapid pace from Pattinson and throwdowns from an expertly-wielded ball-thrower controlled by 'A' assistant coach Shane McDermott.

It was the first time Paine had batted against the Dukes ball since arriving in England, something that will become a daily routine in less than a week when he takes the reins of Australia A’s four-day side for their match against Sussex from July 7.

The clash at the famed Arundel ground will be followed by a match against the England Lions (on July 14-17 in Canterbury) and an all-Australian selection showdown in Southampton (July 23-26) that will complete preparations for the first Ashes Test, starting on August 1.

Paine had his work cut out for him against Pattinson on Friday, who returned for a second spell after bowling in tandem with pace ace Josh Hazlewood to the other A batsmen earlier in the morning.

And Paine liked what he saw from Victoria’s Ashes aspirant, even if it was a serious test of his technique and temperament.

"It was challenging," Paine told cricket.com.au.

"Patto has obviously been playing a bit of cricket over here (for UK county side Notts) and he's going really well. He's a real competitor, even when you're in the nets. He's always at you and he's always been like that.

"It's great to have him around our group, he's brought a great energy and everyone is really excited to see him fit and firing.

"He adds some real grunt to our bowling attack and gives us some options as well to keep our bowlers fresh.

"I think that's going to be crucial during the Ashes."

If Paine shaping up to a Dukes ball bowled by fiery fast bowler wasn't enough to signal the Ashes series is right around the corner, the presence of national selector Trevor Hohns at training certainly was.

Hohns joined the A squad on Wednesday and will keep a close eye on the Test incumbents and aspirants pushing for Ashes selection over the coming weeks.

And the presence of the chairman of selectors might well have had a positive impact on the squad, according to vice-captain Josh Hazlewood.

"I think it gives some guys a lift, maybe the guys who are on the fringe of the team or think they're a good chance and just get that little more out of a training session with him wandering around," Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.

"There's a high number of players here that are going to maybe be in the Ashes so it's good to have Cracker (Hohns) here having a look and seeing how everyone's going."

Australia A tour of the UK

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol

July 2: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire