Australia are working hard to deal with New Zealand's dangerous swing bowlers, captain Steve Smith said Friday on the eve of leading an advance touring party across the Tasman Sea.
"We're very hungry for New Zealand, we haven't performed extremely well away from home recently," Smith admitted.
"That's a big thing on my agenda."
Australia have won Test series at home against the West Indies and New Zealand this southern summer, but notably surrendered the Ashes in England last year.
"It's gonna be a tough one for us, they (New Zealand) play very well at home," Smith said.
He lifted the lid a little on what his team were doing to counter the threat from left-armer Trent Boult, ranked the world's top ODI bowler.
"There's a few different things you can do," he said, listing using a bowling machine or softer balls that swing quite a lot.
"It's hard to train... and try and form sort of a new technique.
"Guys know what to expect and we've got to keep working on it as much as we can and be ready to go," he said.
There could be some relief for the tourists however with reports that Boult's new ball partner Tim Southee may not recover from a foot injury in time.
"I think the wickets in New Zealand for one-day cricket are gonna swing around a bit," Smith said.
"We're gonna get some practise in on those conditions.
"They're gonna prepare wickets that are gonna do a bit."
Australia also had the tools to exploit the local conditions, Smith added.
"We've got some bowlers there to hopefully get a bit out of that and the batters are gonna have to adapt a little bit better than we have previously," he said.
"It's a big challenge, we're gonna have to be at our best if we want to beat them."
The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy ODI series starts in Auckland on February 3 and moves on to Wellington on February 6 and Hamilton February 8.
Two Test matches follow in Wellington from February 12 and Christchurch from February 20.
Source: AFP
GMT 13:37 2018 Wednesday ,12 December
WADA views International Sambo Federation as one of best in fight against doping abuseGMT 17:20 2018 Monday ,26 November
Russian football top-league’s clubs spent over $209 mln on transfer activities in 2017GMT 17:16 2018 Wednesday ,10 October
Charges against Russian national footballers Kokorin, MamaevGMT 05:55 2018 Saturday ,06 October
Don King seeks $2 mln with CAS for Stiverne-Povetkin cancelled boutGMT 09:45 2018 Wednesday ,24 January
Farrell lone Englishman on Euro awards long listGMT 08:24 2018 Tuesday ,23 January
Brewers make offer to Japanese pitcher DarvishGMT 10:31 2018 Friday ,19 January
Man Utd set to make Sanchez highest-paid Premier League playerGMT 08:23 2018 Saturday ,13 January
Alvarez vs Golovkin rematch coming in May: reportMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor