Smith, Lehmann eye quality over quantity

The impending dawn of a new Sheffield Shield summer stirs interest among many an Australia cricket enthusiast, but there will be few more attentive observers over the coming pre-Ashes month than the Test team leadership duo of Steve Smith and Darren Lehmann.

Skipper Smith returns to the playing field after nursing a shoulder injury when he leads New South Wales into their season opener against South Australia at Adelaide Oval from Friday, while coach and national selector Lehmann will study the form of all those pressing for a place in the first Test against England beginning November 23.

And while Lehmann believes Australia's Test players – with three rounds of JLT Sheffield Shield fixtures to find form before the Magellan Ashes battle gets underway – have rarely enjoyed a better preparation for an international season at home, Smith maintains that it's not only big scores and bags of wickets that will be duly noted.

A batters' capacity to scratch out a determined half-century on those early-spring pitches that historically favour seamers will be deemed noteworthy, as will a bowler able to consistently restrict scoring and adhere to a plan even if that success is not reflected in the wickets column.

As a self-acknowledged 'cricket tragic', Smith will study match performances and talk to his peers around the country to get a steer on who is (and isn't) hitting the mark as Australia focus their energies and resources on regaining the Ashes urn, surrendered on his watch in the UK in 2015.

"I'm always paying attention to domestic cricket, looking at guys in different ways, looking at guys that go well in tough situations," Smith said recently as he prepared to return to full training after his early exit from the limited-overs tour to India due to a shoulder injury.

"I think that's great character, you like seeing those characters that do things when the chips are down as such.

"If the whole team gets out and there's someone there 60 not out on a green seamer that has done the hard yards and found a way to get through difficult situations, I think they're almost sometimes more important than the guy that goes out and gets a hundred on a flat wicket."

Given that Smith and his Test teammates David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon will begin their first-class campaign on what has become the most testing batting wicket in Australia – against the dominant seam attack of recent summers – he will glean some early intelligence under that scenario.

The initial round of Shield matches, which also features matches at Brisbane's Gabba and the WACA Ground in Perth (both starting Thursday), will be played as day-night fixtures in preparation for the pink ball Test against England at the Adelaide Oval beginning December 2.

But in the weeks to follow, the competition reverts to traditional red-ball format and Lehmann claims the scheduling of three rounds of Shield cricket prior to the opening Test represents the best Ashes preparation for Australia's players that he can recall.

Even better than the previous series in Australia which, as is the current case, was immediately preceded by a lengthy ODI tour to India and saw the hosts ultimately humble England 5-0 to reclaim the urn.

"It's their best lead in for an Ashes, I think, we've ever had," Lehmann said.

"We had two (preparatory Shield) games in the last Ashes series and here we've got three invaluable (games) now.

"Everyone will get a good opportunity to acclimatise to the different wickets coming back from the India one-day series or the Bangladesh Test series (last September) straight into three rounds of Shield cricket.

"(It's) high quality, everyone available to play, so the best result for us in our progression."

Lehmann, who handed the coaching duties to his deputy David Saker for the recent limited-overs campaign in India and took the opportunity to cast his eye over the established and emerging talent on show in the JLT One-Day Cup, agreed with Smith's assessment of evaluating merit.

The Bupa Support Team men's coach, whose contract was last year extended until the completion of the 2019 ICC World Cup and Ashes series in the UK, said it was the circumstances under which performances were produced, as much as headline numbers they yielded, that informed national selection.

"I don't get to see the domestic cricketers as much as I would like," Lehmann said.

"It's been great having a mini-break to actually watch the JLT (Cup) for example and get around and see the next generation and the younger guys that are pushing to play for Australia.

"So, it's how they get them, when they get them, the match situation, all that comes into it and then you form an opinion from there."

The leadership duo also played a collective straight bat to comments from former England Test batter Ian Bell suggesting that some recent Australian media coverage of the impending Ashes series indicated that "some people are getting a little bit carried away with this Aus team".

"The Aussies have as many question marks in there (sic) team as England do, and man for man - even without Stokesy - I'd say England line up better," Bell tweeted earlier this month, making reference to the absence of star allrounder Ben Stokes when England depart for Australia next week.

Lehmann highlighted the uncertainty surrounding Stokes' involvement in the series – the 26-year-old remains suspended from England duty while the police investigation of his alleged involvement in a late-night brawl continues – as reason why Bell's observation might be queried.

But he acknowledged that both the Ashes combatants have suffered from inconsistent batting performances in Test matches over the past year or so, which added an element of intrigue to the coming summer.

"I'm pretty sure we know most of our side but for maybe one or two spots, and they (England) are not too sure who's touring and who's not touring, so I'd say they've got some problems of their own," Lehmann said when asked about Bell's comments.

"But having said that, both sides are in the same boat.

"We know their top order might be struggling a little bit so we hope that we keep making inroads into their top order. Their middle-order has been quite strong but then they've lost one player maybe out of that (Stokes), for how long we don't know, and their bowling department is pretty solid.

"Our bowling department has got consistently 20 wickets over a period of time now, the last 12-24 months.

"Where we've probably fallen short is our middle order and runs from our top six, so if we get all that right it'll be a cracking series."

Smith, who referred to Bell as "my bunny", preferred to focus on battles already waged than attach significance to his former foe's predictions.

"Interesting. I'm not sure about that," Smith said in response to Bell's comments, noting he had dismissed the ex-Test batsman three times with his increasingly occasional leg-spin.

"We'll wait and see how these first couple of Shield games go and hopefully some guys really put their hand up and make a spot theirs, but I think we're in a good place and ready to go for the summer."

2017-18 International Fixtures:

Magellan Ashes Series

First Test Gabba, November 23-27. Buy tickets

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Buy tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Buy tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Buy tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Buy tickets

ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Buy tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Buy tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Buy tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Buy tickets

Fifth ODI Perth TBC, January 28. Join the ACF

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Buy tickets

T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Buy tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Buy tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Buy tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 13

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21