LAHORE — Brendon McCullum’s Bazballers are set to become the least-prepared England team ever to enter an away Ashes series after it emerged they will play just one four-day warm-up match in Australia before the series starts in Perth on 21 November.
While the full schedule for the tour, including warm-up games, has not yet been finalised, The i Paper understands just one four-day game will be played in the run-up to the opening Test at Optus Stadium.
There are no other practice matches scheduled for the remainder of the tour despite there being two nine-day gaps between Tests.
It comes amid criticism of England’s lack of preparation during a miserable white-ball winter in which they have lost nine out of 10 games since McCullum took charge across all formats last month, including back-to-back defeats to Australia and Afghanistan that have knocked out of the Champions Trophy in the first round.
England have not been helped by a schedule that means they play a white-ball series in New Zealand immediately before the Ashes tour. Even so, the lack of match practise in Australian conditions will alarm supporters who are hoping to see their team win an away Ashes series for the first time since the winter of 2010-11.
Back then, a team coached by Andy Flower and captained by Andrew Strauss were praised for their meticulous preparation which meant they played three high-intensity warm-up matches in the three weeks leading into a series they eventually won 3-1. There was also another tour match slotted into the schedule mid-series.
This was the case on the two subsequent Ashes tours in 2013-14 and 2017-18, when four tour matches in total were played.
Even on the 2021-22 Ashes tour, when England were restricted to a Covid bubble during the preparation period, they had two warm-up matches against the Lions, even though persistent rain meant only two of the scheduled seven days of cricket were possible.
Speaking at the time, Steven Finn, a member of that victorious 2010-11 Ashes-winning squad, warned of the dangers of a lack of preparation heading into such an intense series. “That first day in the field – it really catches up with your body,” Finn said.
“You can do all the amount of fitness training and all the net practice but standing on your feet for six hours through the day, bowling your overs at high intensity and then coming off the field and being mentally and physically exhausted and having to pull up and do it again. From the physical perspective, it is going to be mightily difficult.”
England, who also had to contend with repressive Covid protocols on that 2021-22 tour, went on to lose that series 4-0. Indeed, they have failed to win a single Test on Australian soil since 2010-11, losing 13 and drawing two of the 15 matches played.
Under McCullum, England have often eschewed warm-up matches altogether, with the team playing none before last year’s series in India and Pakistan, instead opting for training camps in the United Arab Emirates.
They lost both series, although they did win 2-1 in New Zealand at the end of last year, a tour that began with a single two-day practice match against a Prime Minister’s XI.
Modern schedules do make it hard for players and coaches do need to be mindful of workloads. Yet for the biggest series of all, England’s lack of preparation is certain to be a surprise to many.
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