Steve Smith to captain New South Wales for Ashes tune-up

Steven Smith will prepare for the opening Ashes Test by leading New South Wales against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield in place of the state's official captain Jack Edwards.

Smith will take charge against England in Perth with Pat Cummins ruled out due to his back injury. He has done the role on six previous occasions since 2021-22 when Cummins took over, winning five of those Test. There is still a good chance he will need to do more than one Test in the series.

He did not captain NSW in the previous round against Queensland, where he scored a century in his first innings since late August, and has not led the state for eight years. It's understood the switch is one Edwards was happy to accommodate for a one-off game. When Edwards was on Australia A duty for the opening round of the Shield, Nathan Lyon captained NSW for the first time.

Smith will be able to work closely with three of his Test attack against Victoria with Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood part of the squad. Sean Abbott, one of the reserve quicks for Perth will also feature, along with the dropped Sam Konstas.

Meanwhile, as a batter, Smith will come against Scott Boland while the Victoria attack will also feature Fergus O'Neill, who is pushing for higher honours, Will Sutherland and Todd Murphy. Eyes will be on opener Campbell Kellaway against Starc and Hazlelwood as he continues to impress for Victoria

New South Wales squad Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Ollie Davies, Jack Edwards, Ryan Hadley, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Konstas, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe, Will Salzmann, Mitchell Starc

Victoria squad Will Sutherland (capt), Scott Boland, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake