England's horror end to Ashes preparations

Nov 18, 2017 - 7:53 AM England had experienced their fair share of demoralising days in the Queensland sun but, just five days out from the Ashes, they didn't expect another soul-destroying one.

The visitors' final Ashes preparations ended on Saturday in embarrassing fashion, as grade cricketers Jason Sangha (133) and Matt Short (134no) combined for a four-and-a-half hour, 263-run stand to take the Cricket Australia XI towards a draw.

It might have been a lifeless pitch as England experimented with their lines and lengths. And it barely has had the importance of the long days at the Gabba to which England have become accustomed.

But the stumps score of 4-364 should at least raise concerns.

After they began the day with a lead of 144 runs after their first-innings score of 515, England planned on steamrolling the youngsters. But in the end, their only saving grace was a one-hour early finish with no chance of a result.

In effect, England had lost hope of breaking through the inexperienced CA XI and beating them, despite having Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes at their disposal.

Potentially the only man missing from the team to take on Steve Smith, David Warner and co at the Gabba from Thursday was James Anderson.

"If you play cricket long enough, those days are going to come," coach Trevor Bayliss said as he insisted he wasn't concerned.

"Today wasn't the perfect day of cricket for us; we spent a bit of time in the dirt.

"If we're realistic across the five Test matches, we'll probably have another one or two of those days."

Making Sangha and Short's counter-attack even more remarkable is the fact neither has played Sheffield Shield and have only five first-class matches and a total of 195 runs between them before this week.

But they were full of class on Saturday.

At 18, Sangha's 133 made him the second-youngest player to post a first-class century against England. The man who beat him: Sachin Tendulkar.

Considered a future star in NSW, Sangha's century also made him the youngest player to pass 100 in a first-class match in Australia since Ricky Ponting against NSW in 1992-93.

"Those stats are pretty good," Sangha said.

"You can't be focusing too much on trying to beat this record or that record.

"Scoring a hundred against England is pretty good."

Two weeks ago, Short was playing grade cricket for Northcote in Melbourne but also looked at home against England after scoring a first-innings 51.

The pair gave just one real chance on Saturday - which was dropped - before Sangha was caught sweeping legspinner Mason Crane.

Meanwhile, with quick Jake Ball looking set to return from an ankle injury, medium-pacer Craig Overton did his chances of a Test debut no help.

He went for an unhappy 0-65 from 15 overs, as Ball appeared to get through a stint in the field and a spell in the nets as England declared him fit for selection.

Source: AAP