Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey has defended England’s contentious decision to take a break from the Ashes ahead of the third Test.
England have been well beaten in both of the first two Test matches after only six days of cricket, and find themselves trailing 2-0 needing to win the next game in Adelaide to keep alive any hope of winning the series.
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England head coach Brendon McCullum claimed the team were overprepared for the second Test at The Gabba in Brisbane, before which they trained for five days straight. This time England will go back to their usual three-day preparation, leaving plenty of time before the Test match begins on Wednesday, 17 December.
And McCullum has whisked the players away to his favourite holiday destination, Noosa, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, for five days of downtime. On Tuesday the England players were spotted on the beach playing ‘pig’, the football game they enjoy before each match.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said he “can’t understand” England’s schedule, while commentator David Lloyd said they should be heading to Adelaide early for “naughty boy nets”.
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But Carey said England might need time to “refresh the batteries” after two games.
“I think it’d be a nice holiday,” he said. “It’s a pretty big series, with lots of time between games. For the Australian cricket team, we get to go home for a few days and be with families, so touring parties have got to find time to fill in those little windows.
“I’m not sure you need to do it [but] it’s totally up to the touring groups to find ways to take your mind off cricket for a little bit. The Ashes is very hotly contested. You don’t want to be thinking of cricket every single day of the tour. If you do have a little break, it’s probably not a bad time to refresh the batteries.”
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England’s have had to endure some barbs from the Australian public while on tour. A pair of local radio presenters appeared on the bench wearing cricket whites with signs reading “For sale, moral victories” and “Bazballers anonymous, free counselling”.
In keeping with England’s relaxed approach to fan interaction this series, a topless Ben Stokes stopped to pose for photos.
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