Calm heads plot Australia's Asian future

The priceless experience pocketed by the generation-next Australia A outfits on their three-week tour to India will be gleaned as much from what they see on television screens, beyond the team hotel and out of the bus window as by playing on subcontinental pitches in Vijayawada and Vizag.

With a Test squad to play Pakistan in the UAE due to be named in the immediate aftermath of the A-team’s roster of 50-over and four-day games in India starting tomorrow, the incentive for individual performances are self-evident.

However, a broader objective underpins the visit by the squads led by Travis Head (one-day) and Mitchell Marsh (four-day), with South Australia international-keeper-in-waiting Alex Carey named as vice-captain in both line-ups.

Carey has acknowledged that a vital element of the campaign is to maximise the exposure for players - who are expected to form the nucleus of Australia teams over coming years - to the Asian playing conditions in which Australia boats a 2-8 record in Tests and 10-8 in ODIs since 2013.

But he added that there will also be a focus on intangible areas such as studying the bowling varieties and batting quirks preferred by their opponents to minimise the chance of being surprised once in the heat of battle.

And to nurture a more relaxed, adaptable attitude to travelling and playing on the sub continent, to counter the cabin fever and clouded thinking that can percolate through touring parties confronted by the culture shock and cricket realities of playing in Asia.

"The people I’ve spoken to say ‘just go out and embrace it – enjoy playing with these guys’ (teammates) because it’s going to bring us together pretty quickly’," said Carey, whose only previous experience in India was last year’s visit to Chennai with the National Performance Squad.

"Preparation is the big part of it.

"Seeing the players that we’re going to come up against, make sure we’re ready for those guys, and just be really adaptable and flexible with the conditions we get.

"We talk about the spinning conditions a lot, and with the wickets up at the (Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane) we can get outdoors and train on those sub-continental pitches.

"But it’s all good and well to prepare really heavily for those wickets, and then if we come up against a green seamer we’ve got to adapt.

"It’s preparing for all conditions.

"And I think the vision part is a big key, not going into the game guessing what they’re going to bowl.

"There’s a lot of vision we can look at."

If the 12-day quadrangular one-day series (against India A & B teams as well as South Africa A) and the subsequent pair of four-day fixtures against India A can demystify the trials of playing on the subcontinent, it can only benefit senior Australia teams in the medium to long-term.

Under the ICC’s Future Tours Program released earlier this year, Australia will contest away series against India and Pakistan (in all three formats), Sri Lanka and Afghanistan (Tests and ODIs), and Bangladesh (Test and T20Is) over the next five years.

In addition to the batting skills needed to survive and prosper on dry, turning pitches against high quality spinners employing a ring of close-in catchers, and bowling plans to counter rivals so adept at flicking the ball away into gaps, the need to maintain calm decision-making is heightened in Asia.

The Australia A squads include numerous players who boast experience in the cloying heat and parochial atmosphere that often characterise subcontinent tours, including Usman Khawaja, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Renshaw and Jon Holland, as well as the appointed leaders.

And while India has yet to name their squad for the four-day matches, the India A one-day squad will be led by limited-overs capped batter Shreyas Iyer who bludgeoned a double-century against Australia’s Test players in their sole warm-up match prior to last year’s series in India.

Iyer captained India A in the just-completed four-day games against South Africa A and is expected to reprise that role against the Australians.

Having played most of his senior cricket for South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers under Head’s captaincy, Carey believes the 24-year-old exudes the same on-field control as he found with Australia’s new leadership team of Justin Langer, Tim Paine and Aaron Finch during recent white-ball tours to the UK and Zimbabwe.

"Just seeing how calm Painey was out on the field, and then JL (Langer) as well with his preparation and post-match (assessments), learning from the games was a big one," Carey said of the lasting impressions he gained from his maiden overseas sojourn with the senior Australia outfit.

"And obviously Finchy was playing well, so he was really confident.

"Heady’s very relaxed, so I think he’ll be really good in this environment.

"He’s obviously captained quite a number of games at first-class and Big Bash level, so he’s really experienced.

"I’m looking forward to working under Heady.

"Standing behind the stumps, I get to see what’s going on in the middle so it’s just to be that second voice for him.

"And just keep developing my game, keep developing, keep watching, keep talking to the senior guys we have got, and build the knowledge."

Knowledge that is likely to yield dividends long after the final four-day game of the tour wraps up on September 11.

Australia A Tour of India

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Matthew Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain, Jack Wildermuth

Schedule

One-day fixtures in Vijayawada

17 August v India A

19 August v South Africa A

21 August v India B

23 August v India A

25 August v South Africa A

27 August v India B

29 August - Quad-Series Final

Australia A four-day squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain

Four-day fixtures in Vizag

2-5 September v India A

8-11 September v India A