Ahead of the much-anticipated men’s Ashes series in Australia, a heated debate has erupted over the limited preparation for the Three Lions, with England great Ian Botham warning that Ben Stokes‘s side could find themselves underprepared for the challenges of Australian conditions.“Well, it’s not the way I would prepare,” he said, speaking in Melbourne on Tuesday.Botham, a stalwart in the history of English cricket, was a part of two victorious tours of Australia in 1978-79 and 1986-87.Meanwhile, England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said his team is comfortable with limited match practice before the upcoming Ashes, explaining that not playing multiple warm-up games is now common in international cricket.England players have been reaching Perth gradually over the past week. The entire squad, including those who were on the limited-overs tour of New Zealand, trained for more than two hours at Lilac Hill in Perth on Tuesday.England will play a three-day match against England Lions, their ‘A’ team, starting Thursday in Perth. This will be England’s only warm-up fixture before the first Test begins next Friday at Optus Stadium.“It’s the way that the series are generally done – for us and for other opposition teams – around the world nowadays,” Trescothick said on Tuesday. “With the volume of cricket that’s played [elsewhere], you don’t have the time for preparations like potentially playing two or three first-class games, which has happened in the past.”“I think you generally roll with a prep game, or some facilities – whatever you have available – and you go from there. Of course, most of the guys have been playing in New Zealand for us. Some of the guys have come out from England, but it’s the way of the modern game nowadays.”Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes became head coach and captain, England have mostly avoided warm-up games and chosen training camps or intra-squad matches. The approach has worked so far, as they have won the first Test in each of their last five overseas tours, including series in India, Pakistan and New Zealand last year.The Ashes series in Australia is significant for England, who are trying to win an away Ashes series for the first time since 2011 and their first Ashes title overall since 2015.
