"Travis Head's latest masterpiece is three days old, the postmortems are complete and England supporters have done their pained vox pops in Australia. And somehow we're still more than a week out from the second Ashes Test. It's a hefty gap bound to be filled by rage, moving from the defeat in Perth to the preparation for a pinkball affair in Brisbane."
"England's first-stringers could pass the time with a daynight knockabout against a prime minister's XI in Canberra. Instead, as planned, it will be a Lions side that plays this weekend, joined by Josh Tongue, Matt Potts and Jacob Bethell, unused squad members in Perth. It is understandable why this has annoyed many, why Michael Vaughan's soundbite that it would be amateurish not to play the fixture carries some substance."
Travis Head produced a match-winning innings that left England critics and supporters reacting while more than a week remains before the second Ashes Test. England opted not to send first-choice players to a day-night warm-up, instead fielding a Lions side supplemented by unused Perth squad members Josh Tongue, Matt Potts and Jacob Bethell. The decision drew criticism given Australia's dominant day-night record and Mitchell Starc's pink-ball potency, and because match practice against the unfamiliar ball could be valuable. The choice aligns with Brendon McCullum's and Ben Stokes's refusal to play to the gallery and reflects a stubborn commitment to their approach.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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