England have opted not to play any of their XI from the Perth Ashes Test in a two-day pink-ball warm-up match before the day-night second Test in Brisbane next week.
After collapsing for under 200 twice in the Ashes opener, England have declined for any of their team to get extra time in the middle before the second Test. A two-day tour match against the Prime Minister's XI is scheduled in Canberra this weekend, which would be an opportunity for England’s batters in particular to practice with a pink ball ahead of the Brisbane Test, which is a day-night game. The 11-day gap, increased by the shortness of the first Test, furthered the logistical possibility that players from the main Ashes tour group could divert to Canberra to join-up with the Lions before heading to Brisbane, without significantly impacting their workloads.
However, only Josh Tongue, Matthew Potts and Jacob Bethell from the main squad – none of whom played in the first Test – will travel to Canberra. The Ashes squad will head to Brisbane on Wednesday and are next scheduled to train on Monday (December 1), with the second Test due to start on Thursday (December 4).
England continue tour-match snubs
Following the embarrassing defeat in Perth, which came after England secured a 40-run first-innings lead and bowled Australia out for 132, Brendon McCullum was ambiguous over whether any of his main tour group would benefit from playing in the warm-up match. "We've got to work out whether that extra cricket is the key, or making sure that camaraderie is tight and morale doesn't drop," he said. "We've just got to work out what the pros and cons are. We're not married to any position at the moment, but we'll work it out in a couple of days."
Clearly, the decision has been made to keep the playing XI tight knit, rather than to change their existing plans. The call is a continuation of recent history for travelling England teams in Australia. There were no mid-tour practice matches possible during the last Ashes series in Australia, with Covid-19 causing significant restrictions to player movements. In 2017/18, Moeen Ali captained an England XI in a match against a Cricket Australia XI in between the second and third Tests. He was, however, the only member of the Ashes squad who had played in the first two Tests to feature in that game.
However, looking further back is a different story. After going 1-0 down at Brisbane in 2013, six of England's XI from the opening Test were on the team sheet for a tour match ahead of the second Test. It made little difference, as England lost the second Test by 218 runs and went on to lose the series 5-0. In 2010, England put out a strong XI for a tour match against a Victoria state side, five days after going 1-0 up in the series in Adelaide. Andrew Strauss captained the side, opening the batting with Alastair Cook, fresh off scoring 148 in the second Test. However, the third Test, which began only four days after the end of the practice match, was the only Test England lost in that series.
England's choice more recently to forgo practice games against local oppositions elsewhere hasn't always conclusively impacted results. They opted against warm-up matches in India last year, instead holding an 11-day warm-up camp in Abu Dhabi. They secured a historic win in Hyderabad and went 1-0 up in the first Test.
England risk more heat after Perth disaster
England were self-admittedly left shell-shocked after Perth. They secured a 40-run first innings lead and bowled Australia out for 132, only to collapse in the afternoon session of day two before getting carted by a Travis Head special in the evening. Following the game, calls grew for them to take advantage of the extra respite they now had to send several of their players to play in Canberra.
Michael Vaughan said England would be "amateurish" if they did not take the opportunity for more practice against the pink ball. "I can’t get my head around why they all wouldn’t want to just play," Vaughan wrote in The Telegraph. "What is the downside?"
Alastair Cook also weighed in. Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: "However much you practise in the nets, you cannot replicate the feeling of time in the middle.”
The Perth Test was billed as England's best opportunity to win a Test in Australia since 2011. But in its aftermath they are 1-0 down having suffered one of their worst-ever defeats in Australia. Should they go 2-0 down in Brisbane, the calls for blood will grow even stronger. For England's management, sending struggling batters to Canberra, potentially to fail again with all eyes on them, would have been a decision that goes against their previous philosophy of keeping their tight-knit group together when under fire. But, regardless of whether sending their players out again in Canberra would have made a difference or not, it's a line of criticism that only results will be able to counter.
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