Australia coach Darren Lehmann said Tuesday he expects a seamless transition period for his new-look Test team heading into next month’s start of the international cricket season.
Australia will embark on the campaign under new captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner without the recent retirees Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson.
Despite the wealth of missing experience, Lehmann said he was confident the players coming through would be ready for the challenge in home Test series against New Zealand and the West Indies.
“It will be pretty easy, I think they’re all good kids,” Lehmann told the Cricket Australia website.
“They know how we want to play and how we want to behave and act. We want to make sure we’re entertaining people the whole time and we’ve been very good at that over the past 12 months.”
While the start of Australia’s red-ball training camp in Sydney was washed out on Tuesday, Lehmann welcomed the opportunity to spend more time with squad newcomers Cameron Bancroft and Andrew Fekete.
“I don’t know him well enough yet to be perfectly honest,” Lehmann said of Bancroft, who is regarded as a candidate to open the Test batting with Warner.
“I’m looking forward to spending some time with him if he gets selected.
“His thirst for the game is second to none and he trains the house down, so I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes about it. It’s good to see the young guys come in and see what we’re about.
“This is a chance to see how they play and how they face Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc (at training),” he added.
Warner said he was relishing the prospect of working alongside Smith in his new leadership role, should the dashing opener win his race to be fit as he recovers from a broken left thumb.
“I’m excited for Steve to lead this new era of players,” Warner said.
“There is a lack of experience there, but we have confidence in Steve leading this team forward.
“Last year he had a taste of it and scored lots of runs. He said he wants to lead by example and that’s scoring runs for Australia as captain.”
While the new-look side may be short on Test experience, Warner believes there’s a healthy mix to ensure the younger players are guided through the early stages of their career.
“A lot of the guys that are going to be picked aren’t too experienced, but there are a lot of guys who will help them along the way,” he said.
The first Test against New Zealand is at Brisbane’s Gabba from November 5.