'You're done': Steve Smith lifts lid on Ashes injury fears as stressed captain recaps hectic hours at SCG

Steve Smith is never still on a cricket field and his mind was racing even faster than usual during a hectic Wednesday at the SCG.

Captaining NSW in a dress rehearsal for the first Ashes Test in Perth, Smith approached big quick Josh Hazlewood after his ninth over in Victoria's second innings.

"He literally bowled his last ball and I looked at him and said: 'How are you going'?" Smith told reporters after Victoria's crushing 300-run victory inside three days.

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"He said: 'A bit tight in my hamstring.' And I was like: 'Get off the field, disappear, you're done, go and figure it out'."

Smith will captain Australia against England at Optus Stadium from November 21 as regular skipper Pat Cummins continues to recover from a back injury.

Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon will make up Australia's bowling attack and all four were playing in the Sydney Sheffield Shield match.

Smith was understandably stressed.

"What do we do with Starc? Do we just put him on ice completely? And I was like: 'Boland, you can bowl one spell and be done as well, that'll be good,' he quipped.

"Fortunately, it was just some tightness and he (Hazlewood) is good."

The drama wasn't finished there with another NSW member of Australia's Test squad, Sean Abbott, also limping off the hallowed turf with a hamstring injury.

Abbott's injury is more severe than Hazlewood's and he has been ruled out of contention for the first Test.

"It's rough for Sean, who's obviously worked really hard the last few years to get in the position in the squad again," Smith said.

The 36-year-old was asked whether Hazlewood's issue might have a flow-on effect in considering whether to potentially play two all-rounders - Cameron Green and Beau Webster - in the same XI.

"We've got it (the option) there, don't we?" Smith said.

"We've got Greeny, who bowled well from what I've heard in their (Western Australia) game. And Slug (Webster), who took five (wickets for Tasmania) as well. So nice to have the options there if we feel we need to go down that path at all."

Earlier on Wednesday, Cricket Australia released a statement confirming Hazlewood would head to Perth as planned.

"He underwent precautionary scans which have cleared him of a muscle strain. He will train as planned in the lead-up to the first Test in Perth," it read.

"Sean Abbott also left the field having reported hamstring tightness. Scans confirmed a moderate grade hamstring injury. He will not be available for selection for the first Test match in Perth and his return to play plan will be developed over the coming weeks."

Cummins, meanwhile, said his long time partner in crime Hazlewood was in good spirits following his scans.

"I was at the SCG, there was a bit happening there for an hour or so," Cummins told reporters at a promotional event.

"Joshy was pretty chipper when he got out, so hopefully he should be fine.

"Obviously we're a week away from the Test series and you always kind of err on the side of caution and they wanted to find out what was happening before pushing it.

"Joshy was pretty confident when he walked out. It's rare to get him chipper, so it was good to see him smiling. He knows his body really well.

"He was a little bit worried and wanted to get it checked out. I only saw him briefly, but he was a bit happier afterwards than he was going into the scans." 

Abbott had claimed four wickets - including three in the space of six balls - during Victoria's second innings, while Hazlewood had taken the wicket of Sam Harper.

The uncapped Brendan Doggett is now the next man up in Australia's pace bowling ranks heading into the first Test.

The 32-year-old Cummins remains hopeful of playing the second Test in Brisbane.

"That's the aim, that's what we're building towards," he said.

"I'm still not 100 per cent yet, so hopefully by Perth I'm up there near 100 per cent and then see where we're at. It's still pretty aggressive, going from nothing to try and get ready for a Test match in four weeks, but we're going to give it a good shot. 

"I feel great. We pushed it up a little bit yesterday, bowled at close to 90 per cent. It was good as we could hope and pulled up really well today, which is probably even more important than how I'm feeling bowling."