Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are chatting about a simple, give-and-take deal: visiting Ashes teams get proper match practice, home boards help make it happen. Nothing flashy, just a bit of common sense after England’s thin preparation in Perth.
England arrived last month and played one warm-up fixture – Lions v England at Lilac Hill. Picturesque ground, yes, but the surface was slow and low and the opposition was effectively England’s own back-ups. CA had offered a hit-out against Australia A in Adelaide or Melbourne; the tourists chose to go straight west instead.
Earlier in the year the ECB asked to use the WACA as their Perth base, mirroring India’s 2024-25 start. They were told the ground was tied up with WBBL and Sheffield Shield commitments. One official admitted India’s decisive win there last summer meant there was “no chance” CA would risk England getting the same head start. CA reject suggestions of gamesmanship, pointing to a Barmy Army charity match at the WACA on the eve of the first Test as proof the place was not completely locked up.
England also declined to send senior players to the two-day, pink-ball Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra before the Brisbane day-nighter, preferring extra nets at the Gabba. Head coach Brendon McCullum later mused that his side may have “over-prepared” for the eight-wicket defeat.
The ODI leg against New Zealand in October was supposed to double as middle practice. Instead, all three tosses went against England, the ball nipped about in early-season conditions and, of the Ashes batters, only Harry Brook reached 30 even once.
Since John Carr left in 2023, the ECB’s director of cricket operations chair has been a revolving door: ex-rugby men David Humphreys then Stuart Hooper acted briefly before Rob Hillman took over in July. That churn has not helped planning.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould was in Australia for the first two Tests and met his opposite number, Todd Greenberg, about a fresh memorandum of understanding for 2027 and beyond.
“We’ve been talking, not about what’s gone before, but what we do next,” Greenberg said on day one at Adelaide. “We had an open conversation about when we come across in ’27. He’ll share some of their prep, we’ll share some of our wants and vice versa.”
He added: “I think it’s just a mature dialogue between us to figure out how we can help each other. I’m happy, very happy to do the same for him here and he’s happy to do the same for me there.”
By the time Greenberg replaced Nick Hockley this year, England’s tour diary was already inked. Even so, he believes the two boards can stop history repeating.
“I don’t know the history of it, but for me it seems relatively simple,” he said. “We want
