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ian botham reprimanded England‘S ash Preparing once again, he called his decision to play ODIs in New Zealand before the series “absolute nonsense” and insisted that “nets are for fishing” when asked about the merits of practice versus a competitive red-ball warm-up match.
came under the control of England Strong criticism for their preparation Even before the humiliating defeat in the first test Australia In Perth, several ex-internationals, including Botham, claimed they would be undercooked.
In late October and early November, the England ODI team played Three matches against New Zealand And the series suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat, with Test stars like Ben Duckett and Joe Root struggling in the middle.
After arriving in Australia, they opted not to face any state teams, but played only a three-day, in-house warm-up game. against England Lions At Lilac Hill before the start of the first Test at the Optus Stadium on 21 November.
Botham repeatedly spoke out against this decision, stating in mid October That “I’m worried. We’re going to travel around and play a little game with the ‘A’ team. Not a single (state match) that borders on ego. You’ve got to give yourself a chance.”
He doubled down on that About a week before the first Test, he said: “This is not the way I would prepare. I think historically when you come here you have to adapt. You have to remember there are not 11, but 24 million people here. And you have to take that into account.”
Botham – who was part of Australia’s two victorious tours in 1978–79 and 1986–87 – appears to have been vindicated, given England’s embarrassing eight-wicket defeat in Perth. They were defeated inside two days – the first time in 104 years that an Ashes Test had been so short.
He has now gone even further when discussing the decision to play only the Lions warm-up and focus on practice in the nets rather than live matchplay.
Botham scoffed in an interview, “Nets are for fishing, they don’t do nothing for me.” Wire“It’s in the middle that it matters, and I don’t think our bowlers perform enough, They are careless,
“England haven’t won a match in Australia for 14 years, and that’s why I would have come here earlier and given myself more opportunities. What the hell were we doing playing three ODIs in New Zealand? Absolute nonsense.”
Pre-Test comments from Botham, as well as Michael Vaughan and Geoffrey Boycott, appeared to irk the England captain ben stokes, who hit back Retired cricketers are expressing their views.
“We have not only been preparing for this tour for the last three weeks, we have put a lot of thought and process into it over the last few years,” he said. “There are a number of factors that play into why we can’t prepare as we have in the past. The landscape of cricket has changed and that affects preparation and how you are able to do it.
“You used to be able to come on tour for two months, a month and a half, before the first game started. Now the schedule is so packed with cricket that it’s impossible to do it like it used to.”
When Botham was asked if he was angry at Stokes’ response, he claimed he just wanted to see England win.
Botham added, “With Ben you never know whether he is serious or irritable.” “Prove me wrong. If they do.” [win]“I would be absolutely delighted because I love to see England do well.”
There were suggestions after the first Test where the team struggled that England should send a number of players from their first teams to play in this week’s practice match between the England Lions and the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. The pink ball fixture will serve as a perfect warm-up for the second Ashes Test in Brisbane, which will use the same ball in the day-night format under floodlights.
However, this confirmed today The senior stars will not be traveling to Manuka Oval, with only teammates Josh Tongue, Jacob Bethell and Matthew Potts traveling as the main squad focuses on additional net sessions at the Gabba.
The move directly contradicts calls from stalwarts like Michael Vaughan, who termed the prospect of not sending key players to experience a floodlit match against the Prime Minister’s XI as “amateurish”.