Voges, Lyon among players in firing line

Australia's coach Darren Lehmann has guaranteed the places of just four members of the Hobart Test XI.

On a day South Africa completed a dominant series victory, the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and high performance chief Pat Howard joined former players for introspective talks on the state of the team in the Bellerive Oval dressing room.

Lehmann, who has been told to "reinvent himself" by Howard, stated that only the captain Steven Smith, his deputy David Warner and the pacemen Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are safe from the axe ahead of next week's day-night Test in Adelaide. All members of the team apart from Starc, Hazlewood and the seamer Joe Mennie are to play in the Sheffield Shield round starting on Thursday, in a departure from previous plans.

"We've got to stop the rot, we've got to work out what the best XI is," Lehmann said. "Guys playing this Test match, some were disappointed in their performances and they get the chance to play the Shield game to put their hand up. I thought Hazlewood was great, Starc's getting back to his best and then you've got Smith and Warner.

"Outside of that everyone's got to make some runs and take some wickets. It's a really important four days of Shield cricket. The lads are really keen to get out of here and get ready to play that game and prepare the best they can. Spots, performances are going to count, but you've got to have an eye to the future as well, it's that juggling act."

These words mean that numerous medium-term members of the team are under enormous pressure to keep their places, including the spin bowler Nathan Lyon, the most experienced player in the side and the custodian of the team victory song - not sung since February in New Zealand. Adam Voges, who is averaging less than 15 over his past 10 Test innings, and wicketkeeper Peter Nevill also seem to be in the firing line.

"Like everyone else, down," Lehmann said when asked about Voges' mood. "Adam's been a very good player for us for 20-odd Test matches, end of the day he's got to go back and make runs like everyone else. We'd love someone to stand up and bat big, I think we've had two hundreds in the last five Test matches and they were both in one innings. So we haven't had big runs from anyone."

Sutherland and Howard flew into Hobart on Tuesday in time to address the team after their innings defeat, the first at home since the summer of 2010-11. Former players Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Shane Warne, Michael Slater and Tom Moody also spent time with the team. "We've had James and Pat talk to us, and that's about going forward and sticking together," Lehmann said.

"I know there's a lot of criticism out there and that's deserved because we haven't been winning. We have to cop that and live with that. For us it's about stopping that, turning it around. They're all great kids, great staff members, they work hard. We just haven't had results go our way."

Young batsmen expected to be considered for selection include the elegant NSW left-hander Kurtis Patterson, the South Australia captain Travis Head, and another Redback in Jake Lehmann - the coach's son. Darren Lehmann indicated he would sit out of any selection discussion involving Jake Lehmann.

"I don't sit in on anything when they [the selectors] talk about Jake, and I don't know what they're saying about Jake," Lehmann said. "Not involved, and I'd be that nervous anyway I probably wouldn't be coach. I'd probably just go to the bar."

The Test squad will be named on Sunday after the Shield round is complete, meaning the team will assemble in Adelaide on Monday, a day later than previously scheduled.

Possible Test squad for Adelaide: Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Kurtis Patterson, Callum Ferguson, Matthew Wade, Steve O'Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers