England would be ‘amateurish’ to not play pink-ball warm-up – Vaughan

It would be «amateurish» if England continue with their plan not to play in a pink-ball warm-up match before the second Ashes Test, says former captain Michael Vaughan.

England crumbled to an astonishing two-day defeat in the first Test on Saturday and now have 12 days until the second Test in Brisbane.

That Test is a day-night match, played with a pink ball rather than the usual red one, but England are not planning to play any of their Test XI in a pink-ball match against a Prime Minister’s XI on 29 November, instead fielding the Lions development side.

Speaking to Test Match Special in the immediate aftermath of their thumping defeat, England captain Ben Stokes said they would not alter their plans, though he appeared to leave the door open to a change when speaking later at his news conference.

«All we are trying to do is give ourselves the best chance of how we believe we can win an Ashes series,» Stokes said.

«We’ll let the dust settle on this and over the next couple of days we’ll work out whether a couple of guys going to play in that game is the right thing or whether keeping the team tight and making sure morale doesn’t drop is the alternative.

«We’ll work on that and come up with a plan.»

England’s preparation before the Perth Test was questioned, given it included only one warm-up game against the Lions.

Previous tours have included multiple warm-ups against Australian state sides but England prefer to keep their preparation in-house these days. They won the first match on their three previous tours with a similar schedule.

The two-day Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra would give the players chance for competitive cricket playing under lights with the pink ball, however.

History suggests there are few significant differences between how the pink and red ball acts but batters do sometimes struggle seeing the pink version as clearly under the lights.

Australia have won 13 of their 14 day-night Tests, including all three against England.

«Whether they like it or not, all these conversations are going to come back to England,» Vaughan said.

«It’s amateurish if England don’t go out and practice between now and then.

«What harm is it playing two days of cricket with the pink ball under lights?

«I can’t be so old school to suggest that by playing cricket they might get a little bit better?

«My method would be, you’ve got a pink-ball two-day game, you go and grab it, go and take it, play those two days and give yourself the best chance.»

Former Australia batter Stuart Law questioned the merits of sending the Test players to Canberra, however, because of the difference in conditions compared to Brisbane.

«I wouldn’t want to bat in Canberra and then go to Brisbane,» he told Sportsworld on BBC World Service.

«You’ve got a ball bouncing at knee high and then you’ve got a ball bouncing at chest high. It doesn’t really do you too much good.»

Stokes admitted he felt «shell-shocked» after their defeat on Saturday.

The all-rounder said he believed the target of 205 was defendable and praised Travis Head, who smashed 123 from 83 balls to power Australia towards victory with his stunning assault.

Stokes also defended his side’s batting on day two. Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brook were all out playing loose drives as England collapsed from 65-1 to 88-6.

«The guys who had success were ones who really put bowlers under pressure and were knocking them off line and lengths,» Stokes said.

«If Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne [on day one] can’t lay bat on ball you know it is a pretty tricky wicket.»