Warm-up, football, fielding drills - Australia prepares for ODI World Cup opener against India

Steve Smith began at a slow tempo, checking his shots, but kept getting more belligerent as time went by. He batted close to an hour.

Australia players during a practice session at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai on Thursday, ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Australia. | Photo Credit:  B.Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

Steve Smith just doesn’t want to get out of the nets.

The Australian number three entered to bat after captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh finished their sessions and exited the nets long after Alex Carey, who began batting with him, had left the ground. Cameron Green was almost done by then, and Marnus Labuschagne was halfway through his session.

In Australia’s nearly three-hour evening session that began with 40 minutes of warm-up, football, and fielding drills, here at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday, Smith batted close to an hour.

Initially, he began at a slow tempo, checking his shots, but kept getting more belligerent as time went by. Throughout his session, he faced left-arm spin from a 19-year-old Tarun Kumar, while the rest — from throwdown specialists to Josh Hazlewood — came and went.

He launched into almost every bowler with clean hitting and no unorthodox play.

Earlier, soon after the Aussies arrived, Glenn Maxwell, after a little warm-up, went straight into the nets and took on a bunch of local net bowlers for thirty minutes.

He took a break in between, talked to the local bowlers, and got busy with a 20-minute power-hitting session. He bowled a bit as well before heading to the dugout.

Stoinis’ extended session

Meanwhile, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis began and ended his training alone.

For the first 20 minutes, he bowled alone, trying to get his line and length right – good length around the off stump. He then moved to the adjacent net to bowl to Marnus Labuschagne before padding up.

For the next 45 minutes, Stoinis took throwdowns under the watchful eyes of assistant coach Daniel Vettori, who later got a video camera to dissect the all-rounder’s game. All this while the rest of the contingent was done for the day.