The English cricket team turned down the offer of playing a warm-up match against the Australia A side at one of the biggest grounds in the country in favour of what now looks like a disastrously short Ashes preparation, it has been revealed.
Coach Brendon McCullum and the rest of the team’s top brass have faced heavy criticism for the decision to play just one match before the first Test: a three-day game against the England Lions in Perth.
Cricket Australia was in negotiations with England more than a year ago when the offer to play Australia A was made, Nine newspapers reported.
English legend Ian Botham said the choice to only play against the England Lions ‘borders on arrogance’.
‘It’s not the way I would prepare,’ Botham said ahead of the first Test in Perth.
‘I think historically, you have to acclimatise when you come down here. You’ve got to remember there’s 24 million people [population] down here, not 11.
England coach Brendon McCullum (pictured left with skipper Ben Stokes) and the rest of the team’s management have been slammed for deciding against more practice matches ahead of the first Test in Perth
It has now been revealed that England turned down an offer to play the Australia A side at a major ground to get ready for the tour (pictured, Ben Stokes, right, congratulates Aussie skipper Steve Smith on his side’s win in the Brisbane Test)
‘You have to take that on board.
‘[Also] the ball does seem to get to you quicker [in Perth] and the light is different.’
Criticism of England’s preparations went up several notches when the team elected not to play the Prime Minister’s XI in a pink-ball match in the lead-up to the second Test at the Gabba.
McCullum was slammed for bizarrely claiming the tourists were ‘over-prepared’ for the Brisbane match, which they lost by eight wickets inside four days.
The team has also been on the end of blistering criticism for choosing to give players two days off in Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast after the defeat.
Meanwhile, Aussie opener Usman Khawaja has revealed the painful memory that is preventing him from getting overconfident about his team’s 2-0 lead in the battle for the urn.
Although they retained the Ashes in 2019, Australia blew a golden opportunity to win a series in England for the first time since 2001.
Stokes’ classic fourth-innings knock at Headingley to steal the most unlikely of wins for England squared the ledger at 1-1, with the series finishing 2-2.
Usman Khawaja (pictured) has revealed the lesson from a past Ashes tour that is stopping the Aussies from being overconfident despite their 2-0 lead
‘It’s always a little bit harder overseas, in England because we haven’t won there,’ Khawaja said.
‘Here (in Australia) we’ve dominated a lot and it’s very natural.
‘We can draw on a lot of experiences.
‘But overseas, especially when you’re playing in England, you only get a certain amount of chances.
‘It was a good lesson, particularly for a lot of the younger guys.
‘Hopefully they still remember all these things, always the toughest times are always the best lessons.
‘It was the same thing with one of the toughest games I played in, at Headingley when Stokesy played that unbelievable innings.
‘It’s one of the greats, it’s just never going away after that.
‘You have a team nine down and it’s just never over.’