Australia's schedule for the World Test Championship is a particularly challenging one, with all eight away matches to be played in Asia
Testing tours: Smith eyes subcontinental series
Steve Smith says Australia will be put to the test "physically, mentally and emotionally" as they confront a nightmare away schedule in the new World Test Championship (WTC) period.
Australia only narrowly missed the final of the recently-concluded WTC due to an over-rate penalty in last summer's second Border-Gavaskar Test in Melbourne, with the decider of the new concept won by New Zealand over India in England last month.
But of the 14 Tests they played through what was effectively a two-year tournament, nine were at home, with the other five made up of the 2019 Ashes in the UK. Tours to Bangladesh and South Africa were cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This time around, it is a vastly different proposition; Australia are scheduled to play 18 Tests in the August 2021 to June 2023 window, and while the majority of those (10) are again at home, the other eight are all set to be on the subcontinent, with two-match series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka next year, and a four-match series against India likely to be held in early 2023.
Australia's World Test Championship (WTC) schedule
Home Tests
England (5), West Indies (2), South Africa (3)
Away Tests
Pakistan (2), Sri Lanka (2), India (4)
Australia also host Afghanistan in a one-off Test from Nov 27, however this is not part of the WTC
It is almost a decade since Australia tasted series success in the five-day format in Asia, when Michael Clarke's side beat Sri Lanka one-nil in a three-match series.
Since, they have lost five series (twice to India and Pakistan, and once to Sri Lanka), managed a one-all draw with Bangladesh, and won just two out of 17 Tests in the region.
Among the batters in the Australia Test set-up or on its periphery, only Smith and David Warner have scored a Test hundred in any of those countries, or the United Arab Emirates, which has long acted as a home base for Pakistan.
Australia's top Test batters in Asia (past 10 years)
Steve Smith | M: 13 Runs: 1,200 HS: 178no Ave: 48.00
David Warner | M: 15 Runs: 1,041 HS: 133 Ave: 34.70
Shaun Marsh | M: 9 Runs: 558 HS: 141 Ave: 32.82
Michael Clarke | M: 8 Runs: 557 HS: 130 Ave: 37.13
Mike Hussey | M: 3 Runs: 463 HS: 142 Ave: 92.60
"I've had a look at the Future Tours Programme and it's pretty hectic, so there's plenty to look forward to, obviously including the Ashes and then tours to the subcontinent which, particularly in Test cricket, they challenge you physically, mentally and emotionally," Smith told cricket.com.au.
"They're great tours to be involved in and really test you as a player. I'm certainly looking forward to those.
"I think (the WTC) is a pretty cool concept – to have more relevance in every game you play, I think is great.
"We were obviously very disappointed not to be (in the final), and over the last couple of years we talked about it being our focus of where we wanted to get to, but we fell short.
"So we've got some work to do as a team to give ourselves the best chance to be there next time."
Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998, making the country a complete unknown for the current generation when it comes to Test cricket, though Sri Lanka's recent struggles – their only two wins from 12 matches in the WTC window came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe – will likely see Justin Langer's side head to the island nation confident of avoiding the same fate as the 2016 Australians, who were bewitched by spin and fell to a humiliating three-nil series defeat having entered the series as the No.1 Test nation.
India, who have not been beaten at home in a Test series since 2012, then provide perhaps the most formidable challenge in the game.
By the time the Pakistan tour arrives early next year (pending, of course, travel and safety issues relating to the pandemic), it will be three-and-a-half years since Australia played Test cricket in Asia, while their schedule through 2020-21 – postponed tours to South Africa and Bangladesh notwithstanding – is particularly thin; by year's end, only Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Ireland will have played less Test cricket in that two-year window.
Even had those two series gone ahead, Australia's then 14 Tests would have paled in comparison to England's 25 through the same period.
"It's been a bit of a bizarre year obviously, and COVID hasn't helped a lot of situations in every industry," added Smith.
"But yeah, after our series against India, I think England were going to play 13 Tests to our zero, which seems a lot.
"As someone that loves Test cricket, I'd love to play as much as we can, but I'm not in control of scheduling."
Australia's WTC campaign begins with the Vodafone Ashes against England on December 8 at the Gabba, with Smith telling cricket.com.au this week he plans to prioritise the iconic Test event as he recovers from an elbow injury.