England have ‘no doubts’ over Ashes prep but is it enough?

Although it is the biggest series of all, England will only have one warm-up match in-house.

England travel to Australia for three weeks of fine tuning before the first Ashes Test in Perth following Saturday’s third and final one-day international in New Zealand.

Their only competitive game before the series kicks off is a three-day warm-up against the young development side England Lions. Is that enough?

The Lions program is under the control of Ed Barney, who is England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) performance director and has the following duties: “There is nothing more the guys will want to raise their game as far as it has ever been, put batters under pressure, and put bowlers under pressure,” he said.

Legendary former All-Star Lord Botham called this month’s lack of warm-ups for England against Australian state teams “borders on arrogance.” Such talk has not been dampened by the ongoing ODI series in New Zealand.

England has no doubt tried to use the white-ball tour to aid in their preparation, easing their Test players into more competitive cricket, increasing the workload of their fast bowlers, and attempting to get batters time in the middle.

Josh Tongue, Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson, all three fast bowlers, have also been with the squads, where they collaborated with the backroom staff on their own programs.

Some people have found success. In the first overs match, limited-overs captain Harry Brook scored a century, and he appears to be in good form, while Jofra Archer, who is his first of the winter, quickly found his rhythm with a 3-23.

However, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, and Joe Root, who are all playing for the first time since September, have each scored 43 runs in four games, which raises the issue.

Barney questioned whether the discussion about the pre-Ashes schedule is unnerving because “I understand where the question comes from, the history of the game.”

Have you looked at the Future Tours Programme, in your opinion? Have you considered franchise cricket and the fact that a multi-format player left the nation on October 13 and will have less than two weeks off before the end of September?

There is a constant balance between the volume of cricket that occurs, including domestic and international commitments.

Since Botham’s Ashes tours, the cricket landscape has grown beyond recognition as a result of both the rise in international and domestic white-ball cricket.

England won the urn in 1986-1987 with three warm-up matches against Australian state teams, followed by additional tour matches between each of the first four Tests, and white-ball games between the final two.

Between the start of the tour’s first game and the series’ conclusion, there were 84 days. Only 56 will be present this time.

Prior to the first Test, England played three competitive first-class matches, won two, and won the series 3-1, on their most recent triumphant tour down under, under Sir Andrew Strauss, in 2010-11.

When they defeated them 5 0 0 when they returned under Sir Alastair Cook in 2013-14, they did the same.

Prior to the first Test, England played a two-day game and two first-class matches before the 4-0 defeat in 2017-18, while Covid-19 restrictions only allowed them to play two extra-squad games starring the Lions.

Because of the rain, those matches had only 109 overs available over seven days. There isn’t a single-all-around solution.

The current set-up can support their strategy on the strength of victories in previous series openers in both India and Pakistan.

The hierarchy chose to hold warm-up games on both of those tours, but England won the first Test of each before losing both series.

A mix of squads will play against Test bowlers in this year’s warm-up at Lilac Hill, which will start on November 13th.

A Lions squad full of talent but with limited experience will depart for Australia this weekend after training in an air-conditioned tent in Loughborough recently along with members of the Test side that aren’t from New Zealand like captain Ben Stokes.

Rehan Ahmed, Matthew Fisher, Tom Hartley, and Josh Hull are the only tourists with Test caps, despite Jordan Cox being a regular in recent first-team squads.

If injury or form were to strike, England would either have to choose a new face or be able to fly a replacement around the world.

The Lions’ side’s purpose, whether it should be a Next Best XI or a future-oriented one, has also been raised.

Barney, who took over from Mo Bobat in 2023, said, “The Lions are not a second team.”

“We are going after achieving the best results possible.”

We constantly balance people with the highest potential, people with whom we are excited, whether with the foresight that they might play for England in two to four years or those who might be the country’s next-best among us. This is where the fluidity and optionality of who we choose are.