Why the rarest of SCG sights could be a huge Ashes boost for Australia
Abbott was diplomatic when assessing England’s preparations ahead of the NSW-Victoria clash, but was more than happy with the red-ball clashes that led to Australia’s most anticipated Ashes series in decades.
“You can’t really get the intensity of play as much as we try to do in the nets,” said Abbott, a regular 12th man who was a tourist to the West Indies and Sri Lanka recently.
Mitchell Starc will make a rare appearance in the NSW Sheffield Shield side alongside a host of Test stars.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s just a matter of being in the middle and middle of the competition. So we’re pretty lucky.” [to have] home conditions in the summer at home. We will be playing against a pretty good team in Victoria this week. “Obviously there’s been a lot of talk about that and it’s good to see most Shield teams doing pretty well at full strength.”
Asked whether England risked being left behind in Perth conditions, Abbott said: “I certainly won’t put my hand up. [Test bowlers] We’ll be in the net next week but I think there are very few English players there at the moment.
“They’ll make a pretty good debut and I’m sure they’ll leave no stone unturned in getting ready to bat in these conditions because they’re unique and that’s what we love about going to Perth and playing there. It offers something different compared to the rest of the world and the rest of Australia.”
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Smith takes over the NSW captaincy from Jack Edwards, who recently made his Australian debut, and aims to guide the Blues Test pacers in preparation for the first Test.
The 36-year-old happily noted his stunning Test average of 68 as captain, but Abbott said Smith’s tactics and intuition had proven just as valuable in playing alongside him for more than a decade.
“He captains instinctively,” said Abbott. “You’ll sense something is going to happen and you’ll ask him why. He says, ‘I really don’t know. I just feel like this is going to go this way,’ and he’ll move something or change something and get rewarded for it.”
“It happens basically every game. That’s what I really like about Steve. He doesn’t second-guess his decision-making.”
