Head coach Justin Langer believes comeback men Steve Smith and David Warner have returned to Australia fold in 'pristine condition', while particularly praising the erstwhile skipper Smith, Cricbuzz reports.
"[Smith is in the] best physical condition of his life," Langer told SEN radio. "I think his skin folds are the lowest they've ever been and they're talking elite level."
"That was one of his goals at the start of the ban, come back in better physical shape than ever before. He and Davey (Warner) have done the same thing, they are in pristine condition," Langer said.
"They're in pretty good shape, they're not throwing like Nathan Coulter-Nile or Jason Behrendorff at the moment or Glenn Maxwell, but they're certainly working their way up to it and that's good for us," he said.
Warner fell for a six-ball duck in that game, but Langer hinted at the explosive left-hander reclaiming his opening slot going forward, while also praising him for being 'adaptable'.
"The obvious thing is we should [open with Warner]. But I think he's quite an adaptable player, too. What I've loved is the partnership between Finchy and Usman Khawaja as well. They gel really well and in the past Finch and Warner gelled really well. I'm not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but we've got really good options there," Langer said.
Smith had a better outing in the second fixture, where he batted at No.5 and thoroughly impressed Langer with an unbeaten 77-ball 89, which the coach hailed as a 'tutorial in batting'.
"I watched him [Smith] on the weekend, he had a nets session on Sunday night and I was sitting with a couple of coaches and I just said 'How good is this kid'.
We know his statistics and I've heard all the stories but when you see him first hand. [Wednesday] was a tutorial in batting. It's great for
the team."
