Nevill seeks runs at the right time

Peter Nevill made a lot of runs last summer, albeit not for the team that needed them most. He followed his dropping from the Australian Test squad by pulling together 625 runs at 56.81 for New South Wales, including three centuries in neat, unobtrusive style.

Among these was an unbeaten 179 against Tasmania in his first Sheffield Shield match after losing his Test place, moving the national coach Darren Lehmann to offer a decidedly mixed assessment. "Yeah it was a fantastic knock. He played really well, we watched it. He's a good young player. Would have loved that 179 in a Test match for us, so that's the difference probably."

Whether playing a cover drive or bidding to play for Australia again, timing is all. A year on, Nevill is one of the wicketkeepers pressuring Matthew Wade to retain his Test spot.

He will captain New South Wales against South Australia at Hurstville Oval on Friday as the stand-in for Moises Henriques, confident he has added greater confidence and technical proficiency to his batting, but without any illusions about how to get back to the top level - state first, country after.

"I've been very conscious not to speculate as to what might happen," Nevill said in Sydney. "I've got a very important role to captain the side for NSW now, so that's got my full focus. I've never really sought the selectors out for any discussions anyway. You make runs, you keep well, you leave the decisions up to the people who are paid to make the decisions.

"[I'll be] doing whatever I need to do to help NSW win. We've got all our Test players back, everyone's available for selection, so there's a great opportunity there to be three wins and zero [losses] for NSW in the Shield at the start of the year. I'd like to do whatever I can to contribute to that, and play whatever role the captain needs me to play."

Nevill reflected on his time with the Blues after losing his Test berth as a period of reassessment and refreshment, noting the influence of the state's then batting coach Dominic Thornely, who has since moved on to be assistant coach of the NSW women's team.

"He picked out a couple of key points that worked well for me for the back end of the Shield season and fortunately I was able to perform pretty well with the bat," Nevill said.

"I think it's always an opportunity [to play for Australia], the next opportunity is just around the corner, you never know that's going to happen. You've always got to be ready should that eventuate, but there's no point focusing on it, it doesn't really help matters."

Among Nevill's other duties on Friday will be to keep wicket for the returning Mitchell Starc, placing him in a useful position to gauge the left-armer's speed and rhythm on his return from a foot injury. "It's always exciting, you always enjoy it, and you're always very grateful that you're not standing there facing him," Nevill said of Starc. "You're a long way back and just catching the ball, it's much nicer than having to face it."

Starc and Nevill will both hope to be forming the same partnership during the Gabba Ashes Test match, but not before concentrating firmly upon the task of performing for NSW. Should they do that to a high standard, the rest will likely follow.