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JL's 'warm and fuzzy' feeling for trio

Australia coach says banned trio are determined to win their spots back ahead of the World Cup and Ashes

Australia coach Justin Langer says he gets a "warm and fuzzy" feeling knowing the banned trio are working hard to push their cases to be involved in next year's World Cup and Ashes defences.

Steve Smith broke his silence last week to make his first media appearance since his tearful airport press conference, shedding light on events in the Cape Town dressing room and his own journey through "dark days".

Smith explained how he said "I don't want to know about it" when he came across the sandpaper plot in the Cape Town dressing room, and again took ownership for the "failure of my leadership".

"There have been some dark days where I haven’t wanted to get out of bed and things like that," Smith told reporters. "But I’ve had a close group of people around me to help me know that it’s OK.

"I’ve made a mistake – and it was a big mistake – and I’m trying to move on from that and improve as a person."

Langer said Smith's appearance underlined to the coach the characteristics he'd already seen in the pair's previous face-to-face meetings.

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"He's in a very determined place," Langer told reporters in Melbourne where the Australian cricket team is preparing for the Boxing Day Test with India.

"Obviously it's been a very tough time for him, but we can't wait to have him back, I'm really looking forward to it.

"He's the Virat Kohli of the Australian cricket team, that's the truth of it. He's an outstanding player, he's been our captain, he's a fantastic young bloke.

"I know how determined he is to get back and play for Australia and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy."

Smith said he had been working hard on unspecified weaknesses in his game during his ban. He has trained alongside Australia's bowlers with the NSW Blues at the SCG nets, while also joining Sydney Sixers sessions, as well as winning the NSW Premier T20 competition with club side Sutherland and playing in various T20 competitions around the globe.

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"I want to come back better," Smith said. "This past nine months has been a big learning curve for me and having a year out of the game to mentally refresh and get myself in a good headspace to go again, hopefully I can play at a better standard than I was when I got banned."

Langer was also full of praise for Cameron Bancroft, who recently penned an open letter to himself the coach called "courageous".

"If you see how he's blossomed, it's unbelievable," Langer enthused. "I've known him since he was very young, to see how he's gone from, pretty much you'd say, a boy into a man with what's happened. That warms my heart as well.

"And I know Davey Warner is the same, he'll been training like Rocky Balboa at the moment."

Bancroft will return to action with the Perth Scorchers with his nine-month ban due to elapse on December 29.

Smith and Warner will see their bans expire on March 29 next year, and reports suggest a planned five-match ODI series against Pakistan could yet be scheduled to begin from March 31.

Langer said there was 'potential' the pair could be straight back into the Australia team within 48 hours of their bans ending if that series was confirmed.

"They're very determined to get back into the Australian cricket team," Langer said.

"There's a process that's going to happen in the next little bit but it's a pretty exciting time I think.

"There's lots of conversations going on about what's best for our bowlers, for the guys returning, and we'll work through that.

"We'll get the best outcome for Australian cricket and for them personally, but there's been no decisions made at this stage."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

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, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, 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