Will England’s relaxed Ashes build-up come back to bite them?

Okay, that’s a bit of a step away from a three-day excursion into the land of the long white clouds, but no matter what England try to do as they prepare for the Ashes, winning will always be more beneficial than losing with no time at the crease.

The bowlers had limited standing time and were not particularly successful. Ten overs per bowler equates to about half of the first day of the Test. Workloads do not accumulate to five-day cricket endurance, but contemporary methods such as wrapping bowlers in cotton wool, resting at the first sign of fatigue or pain, and allowing training sessions to toughen up bodies rather than relying on established fitness at the match pot are not limited to England. As Archer and Wood reach the top of their run, the medical team must constantly hold their breath.

So workloads are low, skills have atrophied, the feeling of winning is nil when leaving New Zealand. The next phase of the ‘Regain the Ashes’ operation is a three-day center wicket trip to Lilac Hill, the lovely home of the Midland-Guildford Cricket Club and the venue for the former tour opener against an Invitation XI comprising local WA players, a few invited Test hopefuls and a former legend like Dennis Lillee.

However, this time the opponent is the England Second XI Lions. I’m not sure what format McCullum and captain Ben Stokes will prefer, but I can guarantee the level of competition will be modest. If Ben Duckett steals the first possession, will they let him stay on the field or let him run away for a clear session? Will they retire players after 50 or allow them to play long Test match-style innings? Will Bazball be banned if too many balls are lost in the Swan River?

It’s very difficult to get a real competitive instinct into these kinds of matches and, adding to the algorithm, the pitch at Caversham plays much lower and slower than the Harvey River Clay at Optus Stadium, where the first Test was held.

Perth has had a cooler, wetter start to spring than usual, which may reflect mild Kiwi weather, whereas normally tourists would be greeted with dusty, eyeball-searing weather across the WACA, dragging warm air of around 40 degrees eastward. The third week of the month is expected to be quite moderate.

As Archer and Wood reach the top of their run, the medical team must constantly hold their breath.

Most of these are negative things. The bright side is that in many previous tours going back 40 years, England have played pre-Test tour matches against counties and strong invitational XIs and they still haven’t captured the jar. The summer of 1986/87 was the exception that proved the rule after unsuccessful performances in these first outings.

A widespread outcry from home and visiting pundits criticized England’s lack of rigorous preparation, but perhaps there is method to this madness. In this era of cricket on screens and game shows dominated by 50 and 20+ people, try to use these abundant body and mind friendly games to a gentler advantage. I can see a silhouette of logic when applying white ball preparation to bat.

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England may feel they are best attacking at all costs with the bat, and they have some seriously good limited-overs batsmen, but translating the result into bowling is much more difficult – where the explosive pace still requires a platform of flexibility and repeatability to excel long enough to win a five-Test series on hard, unforgiving surfaces.

Have England put most of their winning eggs in the first Test basket? Their preparations appear to be focused on the short term. If they can beat Australia in Perth, the equation will tip heavily in their favour. The proof of this preparation is that the pudding is about to be tasted, the crickets produced promise to be fascinating.