{"id":198168,"date":"2025-10-13T23:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/198168\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T23:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:48:10","slug":"englands-ashes-preparation-borders-on-arrogance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/198168\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s Ashes preparation borders on arrogance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lord Botham has claimed England\u2019s Ashes warm-up schedule \u201cborders on arrogance\u201d and is worried they will head into the series underprepared.<\/p>\n

Botham, the former England all-rounder, who was part of two Ashes-winning tours in 1978-79 and 1986-87, is concerned about what awaits Ben Stokes\u2019s squad when they begin the first Test in Perth on November 21.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s Ashes preparations used to involve playing several warm-up games against state sides and prime minister\u2019s select XIs, with at least two or three first-class matches before the first Test. But this time England will play only one three-day warm-up against the England Lions, their development squad, at Lilac Hill the week before the first Test, which Botham believes is not enough.<\/p>\n

The international schedule is increasingly congested and with England<\/a> playing T20 and ODI series in New Zealand over the next three weeks there was very little time available for other warm-up matches to be inserted. England, however, may not have wanted any further fixtures as there have been concerns over the past few years that the quality of opposition in warm-up games has been very weak.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the first episode of Old Boys, New Balls, the new podcast he is hosting with the England rugby union great Sir Bill Beaumont, Botham said: \u201cI\u2019m worried. We\u2019re going to wander in and have a little game with the \u2018A\u2019 team.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It will be] \u2018Alright mate, how are you? Good on ya\u2019 and we\u2019re going to go and perform? Not one [state match] which borders on arrogance. You\u2019ve got to give yourself the chance. They are saying we play too much cricket \u2026 I don\u2019t think you play enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions are different when you play cricket in Australia: the sun, the heat, the bounce, the crowd, the Aussie players, you\u2019ve got to get used to all that. You\u2019re not playing against the Australian cricket team, you\u2019re playing against Australia \u2014 24.5 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Botham is particularly concerned about the condition of the bowling attack, suggesting a cautious approach to workload management can be counterproductive. The paceman Mark Wood has not bowled since having knee surgery before the start of the English summer and Ben Stokes, the captain and all-rounder, has not played since suffering a bicep injury in the fourth Test against India in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cBowlers don\u2019t get fit in gyms, that\u2019s been proven,\u201d Botham said. \u201cLook at the record with injuries \u2014 Wood, [Jofra] Archer, Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse \u2026 they don\u2019t play enough. You get fit by playing. If it goes horribly wrong, Mark Wood breaks down in the first game, or Jofra Archer does, or Ben can\u2019t bowl, we are suddenly chasing the eight-ball before we\u2019ve started. It\u2019s a worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes and Wood have concerning recent injury records but Carse, their county team-mate at Durham, insisted both will be fit for the Ashes<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve been down to Loughborough in the past couple of weeks, had a couple of nights with them. Ben is looking near enough 100 per cent fit and so is Mark. I\u2019ve been bowling with them,\u201d said Carse, who was speaking at the Professional Cricketers\u2019 Association awards last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see where they have got to after their setbacks during the summer. They will be raring to go come Australia time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashes scheduleFirst Test
November 21-November 25
Optus Stadium, PerthSecond Test (day\/night)
December 4-December 8
The Gabba, BrisbaneThird Test
December 17-December 21
Adelaide OvalFourth Test
December 26-December 30
Melbourne Cricket GroundFifth Test
January 4-January 8
Sydney Cricket Ground<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lord Botham has claimed England\u2019s Ashes warm-up schedule \u201cborders on arrogance\u201d and is worried they will head into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-198168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}