England’s divisive preparations for next week’s Ashes Test have received support from an unexpected source: former Australian seamer Peter Siddle.
The tourists have missed the opportunity to send someone from their first-choice Test team into a premier’s XI in Canberra, missing the opportunity to get used to the floodlit cricket and the pink Kookaburra ball.
And while that decision has attracted a lot of criticism, the man who will lead the home attack can see the logic in it.
Siddle, now 40, will look to revive his glory years by taking English wickets at Manuka Oval, but he believes softer pitches in the capital would not be perfect practice for the quieter tracks that await in Queensland.
For exclusive stories and all the detailed cricket news you need, subscribe to The Cricket Paper website, digital edition or newspaper from just 14p per day.
Peter Siddle will look to revive his glory years by taking English wickets at Manuka Oval this week
(Anthony Devlin/PA)
Different
“The first Test didn’t go to plan for them but it’s such different conditions, Manuka Oval compared to the Gabba, two completely different surfaces,” he told Fox Sports on the 15th anniversary of his Test hat-trick against England in the 2010 Brisbane Test.
“They won’t get much out of it, other than maybe seeing a pink ball under a light, that’s probably the only benefit they’ll get.”
“It’s a tough one, I know what it’s like to be on tour for a long time. It’s only the first Test that’s just over, but most of the squad just came from New Zealand so they’ve played a lot of cricket.”
Another former Australian international, and onetime head coach of Lancashire, Stuart Law, agreed.
He told BBC World Service: “I wouldn’t want to bat in Canberra and then go to Brisbane.
“You have a ball that bounces at knee height and then you have a ball that bounces at chest height. It doesn’t really do you much good.”
READ MORE: England reject the lit Canberra Ashes tune-up and stick together in Queensland
#tough #Peter #Siddle #defends #Englands #preparations #Ashes #Test