Even now, months later, England’s lack of preparation for the Ashes induces a grimace. The bad news for their fans is that Australia are unlikely to make the same mistake ahead of their return trip to these shores in 2027.
This is not simply because the two countries’ boards have agreed to provide each other with a proper warm-up – a mutual generosity which, usefully for Australia, will begin next summer, when they will try to end a winless-streak in England stretching back to 2001. It is also because many of their peripheral players, and one or two of their likely starting XI, have been getting used to English conditions in county cricket.
In the most recent round of County Championship matches alone, Nottinghamshire’s Fergus O’Neill was bowling to Hampshire’s Jake Lehmann, Glamorgan’s Ryan Hadley to Warwickshire’s Beau Webster, Yorkshire’s Jhye Richardson to Surrey’s Sean Abbott and Gloucestershire’s Gabe Bell to Northamptonshire’s Nathan McSweeney – not to mention Northamptonshire’s Harry Conway to Gloucestershire’s Cameron Bancroft. Australians, one and all.
So far this season, 16 have played red-ball cricket in England, including Jake Weatherald, who opened throughout the recent Ashes and has been getting his eye in with Leicestershire, and Marcus Harris, who has scored two hundreds for Lancashire and may be in the mix next year.
That’s two more than the number of England players who have taken part in Australia’s first-class Sheffield Shield – ever. And six of those 14 (Jack Simmons, John Hampshire, Roland Butcher, Neil Williams, Richard Ellison and David Millns) turned out for Tasmania, the runt of the Aussie litter.
Partly, this ongoing imbalance is a matter of logistics: England and Wales have 18 first-class teams, who play at a time of year when southern-hemisphere cricketers are looking for work; Australia have only six teams and therefore fewer spaces to fill. Besides, England’s schedule barely allows its players a breather, let alone the chance to play in the Shield.
Ben Stokes endured a miserable Ashes Down Under over the winter – but what hope do England have of winning back the urn on these shores next year when we let Australians hone their skills in county cricket?
Aussie batsman Nathan McSweeney gets used to English conditions batting for Northamptonshire this week
But the fact that Australians can dip in and out of county cricket at will has been on the ECB’s radar for a while. In early 2022, as England reflected on their 4–0 hammering in the Covid Ashes, the then chief executive Tom Harrison asked Cricket Australia if their first-class competition might find space for a Pom or two.
Funnily enough, the proposal got nowhere, but the issue has not gone away – at least as far as the ECB are concerned.
Restraint-of-trade laws being what they are, English administrators can’t simply issue a blanket ban on Australians leading up to an Ashes tour. But they can make their displeasure known to counties who employ what one Lord’s insider called ‘tourist Aussies’, who turn up for a pre-Ashes net session, as opposed to ‘career Aussies’, who form a bond with a county – such as Marnus Labuschagne at Glamorgan.
The most high-profile example of the ‘tourist’ category took place in 2023, when Steve Smith played three matches for Sussex before that summer’s Ashes, shining a light on the differing motives of the England team and the county game.
But Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace insists that any proposal to block Australians would be ‘stupid’. He tells Daily Mail Sport: ‘I don’t buy the argument that we’re giving them an advantage. I mean, all our players can go and play first-grade cricket in Australia and it’s a very high standard.
‘You want to play your best players playing against the best players. You want them coming in and bringing their great traditions, ideas, knowledge and skill into English cricket. We want county cricket to be the best it can be.
‘The amount of money we made on the one game that Smith played for us at home almost paid for his entire contract. And for the three games, the coverage of county cricket was off the charts. It did the county game a fantastic favour.’
Part of the ECB’s problem is that county cricket regards itself as more than a feeder competition. While everyone involved with the Sheffield Shield can broadly agree on its primary purpose – to give Australia’s Test team the best chance of victory – the county game is considered by many as a sporting entity in its own right, with memberships, outgrounds and historic ties to local communities.
Asked how much thought he gave to the wider ramifications of hiring O’Neill, an Ashes contender, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell is blunt: ‘I’ll be honest with you – none.’
Sussex boss Paul Farbrace defends the decision to hire Steve Smith (above) ahead of the 2023 Ashes. ‘The coverage of county cricket was off the charts. It did the county game a fantastic favour,’ he says
Aussie Test opener Jake Weatherald loses his wicket batting for Leicestershire against Essex this week
He adds: ‘It doesn’t go through our heads. When I’m looking for an overseas player, I’m looking for the best fit for what the squad looks like. But I do agree there is a more of a separation as to what England want and what the counties want than there probably is in other countries.’
England’s Test team, then, is fighting on more than one front, to Australian cricket’s continued delight. And while their record against Australia at home is even (55 wins and 53 defeats), their record against them away is poor (58 wins and 103 defeats). Until 1970, when overseas players in county cricket started to become a phenomenon, England had won 66 and lost 80 Tests against Australia – a win/loss ratio of 0.83. Since 1970, they have won 47 and lost 76, a ratio of 0.62.
Many factors go into such historic numbers, of course, but it is not outrageous to suggest that Australian cricketers’ greater familiarity with English conditions may be among them.
For now, the ECB hope that their good relations with Cricket Australia can prompt a change of heart. Whether the Australians believe anything needs changing is another matter entirely.
