Fiery quicks test out batting hopefuls

Australia's batsmen were ready for some friendly fire this week and that's exactly what they got on Monday as the Aussie quicks turned up the heat during an intense net session at the Adelaide Oval.

The respective preparation of Australia and India three days out from the first Domain Test could not have been starker; all but two Indian players stayed away from the Adelaide Oval and instead spent time in the gym, while the Australians hit the nets for a two-hour session in the warm afternoon sun.

With seven Australian batsmen fighting for six spots, this week is expected to be a ‘bat-off' in the nets and an extension of the start to the JLT Sheffield Shield season where players around the country were striving to impress.

One of Victorian duo Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb are expected to miss out on the first Test, starting on Thursday, although none of Australia's batsmen have been officially locked in position in the top six.

The Australians made a slight adjustment to their standard net session routine on Monday; instead of two bowlers alternating as they bowled to a single batsman, two batsmen were assigned to each net and each bowler bowled six balls consecutively as they would in a match.

The two batsmen also mimicked game conditions by changing strike whenever they deemed a single to be on offer.

The change meant batsmen faced a smaller number of deliveries, but quantity was replaced by quality as the Australian quicks bowled at full pace.

Pat Cummins zeroed in on local boy Travis Head, the left-hander safely avoiding a swift bouncer that drew some gasps from the watching media. 

Josh Hazlewood and Shaun Marsh had a fascinating personal battle, with Hazlewood even roaring an LBW appeal with the same vigour he would show in a Test match.

And Mitchell Starc bowled with impressive pace to Handscomb, including once nasty short ball that the Victorian appeared to cop on the glove as he tried to fend it away.

Spinner Nathan Lyon also bowled nicely, spinning his first ball to Harris past the left-hander's bat before hitting him on the pad from the next delivery, with ‘umpire' and fielding coach Brad Haddin raising his finger despite Harris indicating he'd got an inside edge.

The session was the realisation of the oft-quoted mantra ‘train the way you play', which had been foreshadowed by Head on Sunday.

"I like to compete in the nets and I think you have to compete against our bowlers because it's hard work," he said.

"You don't get anything easy and they'll test us out in the next three days, which will be good. And then you can walk out knowing you've prepared well and are ready to go.

"If you can get through these (bowlers), you can get through anyone in the world."

Before the session, Hazlewood had also promised that he and his fellow quicks wouldn't be taking it easy on their batting teammates this week.

"The nets are pretty fiery, everyone feels a touch quicker in the nets as well," Hazlewood said with a smile.

"I always make sure I bowl when Pat or Mitch are bowling so I don't have to face them."

In the morning, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin joined several members of India's coaching staff in a short net session the day after the team's arrival from Sydney.

Veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara said India's tour match against a CA XI at the SCG, where they spent more than 150 overs in the field, led to the decision for most of the squad to take it easy on Monday.

"To be honest, we got what we wanted in the practice game," he said.

"The trainer and physio have been monitoring the workloads, so … we thought it's best to take a break and train for the next two days and be fresh for the Test match."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar