Revealed: the Ashes preparation plan England rejected

Adelaide: England rejected the opportunity to play Australia A on a major ground – possibly on a lively pitch at the MCG – in favour of the truncated Ashes tour preparations that have led to a 0-2 deficit with three Tests to play.

In pre-tour negotiations more than a year ago, Cricket Australia offered the chance to play an Australia A side in the lead-up to the first Test of the summer, as is customary for all touring teams, but England chose instead to fly directly into Perth for an internal trial game.

This was partly because the majority of players were already near the east coast of Australia due to a white-ball tour of New Zealand that preceded the Tests, but also because England have consistently avoided formal warm-up matches during the “Bazball” era.

England’s pre-tour negotiations were led by then director of cricket operations Stuart Hooper, a former player and official for the Bath rugby club, who left the ECB earlier this year after he was revealed to be a prime mover in the Rugby360 breakaway league.

The New Zealand tour was locked into the Future Tours Program in mid-2022, not long after men’s managing director Rob Key and coach Brendon McCullum took over leadership of the England set-up. Key had hired Hooper.

England have toured New Zealand three times since the previous Ashes tour of Australia in 2021-22, but neither of the first two trips included any white-ball games. That leg of the current tour appears unlikely to be repeated for future Ashes series.

According to a report out of the UK this week, England had requested a block of training time at the WACA Ground, as India got last summer, but were denied due to a Sheffield Shield game scheduled for the same week, and were offered either Lilac Hill or a club ground in Adelaide.

England Cricket Board officials are reportedly eager to enter into a detailed memorandum of understanding for the next two series in 2027 and 2029-30, so that touring teams are adequately prepared to compete. Australian cricket authorities are willing to give England the opportunity for a bigger and better preparation for future Ashes tours – provided they get the same treatment in the UK.

CA is yet to receive any formal communication from the ECB about warm-up plans for future Ashes series, but has confirmed to this masthead it is open to a discussion. The ECB was contacted for comment.

A lopsided start to the Ashes, with Australia 2-0 up despite putting out an under-strength team missing Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, has been compounded by the touring side’s loss of fast man Mark Wood from the series with recurring knee problems.

The chaos of the first two Tests was watched closely, and at times painfully, by ECB chief executive Richard Gould, who flew home after the Gabba Test ended. The ECB chair, Richard Thompson, will arrive in Australia for the back end of the series.

Both will be asking questions of Key and McCullum about an approach that appeared to leave the touring batters short of match practice in relevant, bouncy conditions, while also ensuring the pace bowlers would struggle to maintain standards due to a lack of miles in their legs.

The touring side had been hopeful, particularly after Cummins was ruled out of the early part of the series due to back trouble, of landing a stunning blow in Perth, with the likely media and public pile-on directed at the Australian team then to work to their advantage.

That much was clear from the shocked response of England skipper Ben Stokes when a winning position was squandered through a batting collapse, followed by a stunning innings from Travis Head to seal Australia’s victory inside two days.

“A little bit shellshocked,” Stokes had said. “It’s quite raw, quite fresh at the moment but, geez, that was some knock. It’s knocked the wind out of us. This is a very tough one to get the series going when we felt we were in control of the game.”

Two years ago, the BCCI negotiated a comprehensive build-up for the 2024-25 Indian touring team, with an Australia A versus India A series taking place before the Test matches, including a game at the MCG: that fixture would have been available to England had they wanted it.

In recent years, the MCG’s surface has evolved from a slow and dull surface to one of the best in the country, affording plenty of bounce and considerable pace for fast bowlers to exploit.

Similarly, the Prime Minister’s XI game in Canberra could have been played over three or four days had the touring team wanted a more immersive experience of the pink ball before the Gabba. As it was, none of the first-choice England players took part in that game, preferring to train in hotter conditions in Brisbane.

“This Test match, I actually felt like we over-prepared,” McCullum said after the Gabba Test. “When you’re in the heat of the battle, as we all know, sometimes the most important thing is to feel a little bit fresh.

“I’m a horse-racing man, and you wouldn’t just keep doing the same thing with your horse, you’d send it around in figure-eights or over the little jumps, just to try and switch it on a bit. We’ll look at some alternative methods over the next few days.”

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