Smith bullish about playing for Clarke

Steven Smith, the Australia legspinning allrounder, has called Michael Clarke a "very, very good captain of spin" and believes he stands to benefit from Clarke's close relationship with Shane Warne. Smith is currently recovering from ankle surgery but hopes to start running next week and bowling within a month. If all goes well, Smith should get his first chance to play Test cricket under Clarke during the away series against Sri Lanka in August and September. The pair has already developed a solid working relationship in the limited-overs formats of the game.

"He's helped me out a lot," Smith told the Daily Telegraph. "He's a big believer in giving a bit of protection when you start off and when you get into your spell bring your men in. Warnie was a big believer in that as well. He thought if you had your men out and brought them in you were attacking. If you had to push men out it felt like you were retreating and the batsmen were on top.

"I think that's something Michael's got from Shane by being good friends with him and that will help me out a lot with my bowling."

There is expected to be limited competition for the spinner's spot in the playing XI. Offspinner Nathan Hauritz is still recovering from shoulder surgery, while left-arm spinner Michael Beer and offspinner Jason Krejza will be part of next month's Australia A tour to Zimbabwe.

Smith has also benefitted from the late Terry Jenner's expertise, if not quite to the same extent that Warne did. "He [Jenner] is an absolute genius at what he does," Smith said. "The sessions I had with him I learned a lot from and continue to learn a lot. There were a few things like tactics and trying to work out a batsman, looking at them even when you're not bowling to them.

"Looking at the way they're doing things. See if you can pick up anything. It's pretty tough coming on to bowl and trying to figure out what they're doing. He also slowed down my run-up and made sure I was more composed at the crease. He got my bowling shoulder up a little bit higher to allow me to get over the ball a little bit more and help me with drift."