No fears as Smith misses drills session

Australia captain Steve Smith is considered in no danger of missing Australia's next match of the ODI tri-series in the Caribbean despite all but sitting out training on Friday morning (AEST) due to tightness in his right thigh.

Smith walked laps of Kensington Oval in Barbados and assisted Australia's coaching staff during fielding drills but did not join his teammates in the drills themselves as the team completed their first session on the island ahead of their match against South Africa on Monday.

The skipper experienced tightness in his right quad early in his innings against the West Indies in St Kitts last Tuesday and had his leg strapped by physiotherapist David Beakley during the match.

But he was clearly unaffected during the game at Warner Park, posting a polished 74 before fielding during the run chase.

The 27-year-old is expected to bat in the nets on Saturday at Kensington Oval, the venue of Australia's World Cup final triumph over Sri Lanka in 2007.

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With a total of six days between matches, the Australians have been afforded the chance to vary the focus of their training sessions ahead of crucial matches against South Africa and the Windies in the coming days.

And after a rest day on Thursday, the squad focused exclusively on their fielding during an intense two-hour session on Friday.

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Both Smith and coach Justin Langer had been disappointed with the tourists' efforts in the field during the defeat to the Windies in St Kitts, the skipper labelling the performance "sloppy".

"We've been doing the work (on our fielding) and we've been doing our best, but this isn't the standard the Australian cricket team sets so we've got a lot more work to do to improve it," Smith said after the loss.

"We set ourselves high standards in the field and we want to be the best fielding team in the world. We've got a lot of work to do to get to that mark."

Australia's place in the tri-series final is far from secure after all three teams departed St Kitts this week with two wins and two losses from four matches.

A loss to South Africa early on Monday morning (3am AEST) would leave the Australians needing to beat the Windies 48 hours later to keep their fate in their own hands.

The Proteas and Windies will face-off in the final preliminary match on June 25 before the final two days later.

The Australians will be looking for a vastly improved performance in Barbados after they were outplayed during their four-wicket defeat against the Windies in St Kitts.

Paceman Josh Hazlewood identified the team's start with the ball at Warner Park – the Windies plundered 74 runs inside the opening 10 runs of their run chase – and their finish with the bat as areas that needed work.

"It was a little bit disappointing ... I think we were a little bit hit or miss with our lines and lengths," Hazlewood said on Thursday.

"If they play a big shot off a good ball that's fair enough, but I think we were a bit straight, a bit two sides of the wicket, and they got off to a flyer and we didn't really recover.

"I think we all knew where we went wrong.

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"The batting side as well, maybe in the last 10-15 overs we could have got a few more runs and put a bit more pressure on them with the bat as well.

"So there's a few little areas there we can work on and improve for the next game."

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Mitchell Starc is expected to return to the side in Barbados after being rested from the last clash as Australia continue to carefully manage the star paceman's comeback from foot and ankle surgery.