Abbott was diplomatic in assessing England’s preparations before the NSW-Victoria clash, but was more than happy with Australia’s round of red-ball clashes leading into the most anticipated Ashes series in decades.
“You can’t really match game intensity, as much as we try to in the nets,” Abbott, a regular 12th man and tourist in the West Indies and Sri Lanka of late, said.
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 something about being out there in the middle and the thick of the contest. So, we’re pretty lucky [to have] home conditions in a home summer. We get to play a game this week against a pretty good team in Victoria. There’s obviously been a lot of chat about it, and it’s good to see most Shield teams pretty well at full strength.”
Asked if England risk being underdone in Perth conditions, Abbott said: “I certainly won’t be putting up my hand to face the [Test bowlers] in the nets next week, but I think a fair few of the English lads are over there now.
“They’ll have a pretty good lead-in, and I’m sure they’ll leave no stone unturned to be prepped to bat in those conditions, because they are unique and that’s what we love about going over and playing in Perth. It offers up 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 recent Australia A debutant Jack Edwards with an eye to marshalling the Blues Test speedsters in preparation for the first Test.
The 36-year-old has happily pointed out his stunning Test average of 68 as skipper, but Abbott said Smith’s tactics and intuition have proven just as valuable having played alongside him for more than a decade.
“He captains on instinct,” Abbott said. “He’ll just get a feel that something’s going to happen, and you’ll ask him why. He’s like, ‘I don’t really know. I just feel that this is going to go this way’, and he’ll move something or change something and it’ll pay off.
“It basically happens every game. So that’s what I really like about Steve. He doesn’t second-guess his decision-making.”
