England’s Concerted Efforts

Since their arrival on 5 November, the tourists have taken in no less than four concerts by some of the world’s biggest musical names.

On November 11, Andrew Flintoff took his men to the U2 concert in Sydney – the day before their tour match against New South Wales. On November 14 it was the turn of the Impossible Princess Kylie Minogue to entertain the players before they saw Robbie Williams in Adelaide on the night of their loss in the second Test.

Last night, on a day when they chose not to train, the England party saw Sir Elton John perform in Perth.

Flintoff is a good friend of Sir Elton, having once been asked onto stage at a gig in London to perform his favourite song, “Rocket Man”.

The concert will have been a relaxing break for the players, who put in a much improved showing in their two-day match against Western Australia. Both openers, Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook made big scores, while wicketkeeper Chris Read enhanced his chances of selection with a composed half-century.

Nevertheless, the bowling remains a concern, with England only having dismissed one side on tour so far – Australia in the first innings at Adelaide, and that at a cost in excess of 500 runs. At this stage Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Ashley Giles have each taken in more concerts on tour than they have taken Test wickets in the series.

Meanwhile, former Australian great Dennis Lillee has labelled England’s preparation for the Ashes as deplorable. Lillee told Cricinfo “I think that going back to England and not coming straight here and getting another few days’ practice was bordering on stupid. I don’t think that will happen again”.

Lillee, along with a number of former Ashes players, will line up in a Twenty20 match at the WACA tonight, less than two days before the same ground is used for a Test match. The scheduling highlights the amount of use which the WACA gets compared with other Australian first-class venues. No less than 65 days of cricket are scheduled for the ground this summer. The next most used first-class facility in Australia is Adelaide Oval, with 40 days of cricket scheduled this season.

The Test match wicket continues to be the source of most discussion in the lead up to this match, along with England’s selection issues. The pitch has lost much of its characteristic bounce and pace over the past few years, a fact blamed on the changing clay content of the soil. Despite head groundsman Cameron Sutherland promising a faster wicket for the Test than that used for other first-class games this year, the pitch is still expected to favour the batsmen.