England have defended their decision to play only one warm-up game in Australia in preparation for the Ashes, which start in Perth next week.
The tourists held their first full training session at Lilac Hill Park on the outskirts of Perth on Tuesday ahead of their solitary three-day match against the England Lions, effectively their B side, that starts on Thursday. The first Test at the city’s Optus Stadium then begins next Friday.
While playing a single warm-up fixture has become the norm under head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes in recent years, having only one game to acclimatise to local conditions is a far cry from England’s previous Ashes tours. In 2010-11, the last tour on which England even won a Test in Australia, the team played three preparation matches — against Western Australia, South Australia and Australia A respectively — which amounted to 10 days of competitive cricket.
Even England’s previous tour in 2021-22, which was impacted by the Covid pandemic, featured two warm-up matches over seven days against the Lions squad. The tourists went on to lose the Ashes series 4-0.
“It’s the way a series is generally done for us and for other opposition teams around the world nowadays, with the volume of cricket that’s played,” said England’s assistant coach, Marcus Trescothick, during a press conference at the team’s training camp on Tuesday.
“You don’t have the time for preparations like potentially playing two or three first-class games. You generally roll with a prep game or some facilities, whatever you have available, and you go from there. Most of the guys have been playing in New Zealand for us (in two recent white-ball series). Some have come out from England.
“What we are doing isn’t anything different for when we went to New Zealand, Pakistan or anywhere else. And it isn’t any different for when India or Australia came to England.
“The volume of cricket that’s now played around the world and the amount of white-ball cricket into red-ball cricket — the opportunities are not there. And the intensity of playing five Test matches, if we were to go and play two or three warm-up games on top of that, having done it myself in the past, it’s very tricky once you get to the back end of a series to still be mentally as fresh as you need to be.
“So, this is the situation and we’re happy with what we’re trying to do.”
Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson arrive in Perth ahead of the Ashes series (Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Stokes and McCullum have overseen five away series since taking up the reins of the national side and all have had either one or no warm-up fixtures. England prevailed in the first Test of each, going on to win two of the resultant series. Yet, given the conditions England’s white-ball players confronted in New Zealand for their ODI and Twenty20 fixtures, they will need to make good use of the three-day fixture against the Lions as they seek to adapt to Australia.
The track at the Optus Stadium has followed the formidable reputation of the WACA Ground, which it has effectively superseded since it opened in 2018 and was renowned as the fastest and bounciest pitch in the world.
“We’ve had facilities here (at Lilac Hill) with the nets and then out in the middle, and then we’ve got the preparation game here,” said Trescothick. “My day playing at the WACA was unique and very different, but you prepare yourself for those changes in facilities and pitches as you go along. We’ll have three days of prep at Optus just to get used to the pitches and we’ll go from there.
“The team has stuck together for a long period of time. It’s been very consistent and we’re in a position where we’ve been playing good cricket in our Test stuff. It’s been pretty consistent for a number of years, so we’re pretty confident in our own team and what we have to throw at Australia.”
The warm-up match should give England’s players a chance to find their rhythm ahead of the first Test, and fast bowler Mark Wood could feature for the first time since February following knee surgery. But Trescothick admitted the fixture is unlikely to sway selection too drastically for the start of the Ashes.
“I guess everybody’s got an opportunity to stake their claim, but we’ve not really chopped and changed a great deal, so (the team) is definitely not going to change dramatically now before the start of the Ashes series, just because somebody puts their hand up and takes five wickets or gets 150,” he added.
“The team’s been what it has been for a period of time for a reason, so that when you come to a big series, you’re more settled and confident going into it.”