England’s last day of action before the Ashes became an embarrassment here on Saturday when they failed to take a wicket in the first two sessions against a Cricket Australia XI widely derided for not providing strong enough opposition.
Two young batsmen with no Sheffield Shield experience between them in Jason Sangha and Matt Short batted until beyond tea to record their maiden first-class centuries and send England to Brisbane for the first Test demoralised.
Just when England were offered a glimmer of Ashes hope by the selection of a much criticised Australia side for the Gabba they had their worst touring day for many a long day and will now have considerable soul searching before the Ashes.
England’s last day of action before the Ashes became an embarrassment in Townsville
Sangha, just 18, become the youngest batsman to score a first-class century against England other than the great Sachin Tendulkar as England’s attack simply had no answers on a flat Townsville pitch.
Sangha, who plays grade cricket for David Warner’s club Randwick Petersham in Sydney, has only played first-class cricket in two warm-up games against England and had scored three, five and a second ball duck in his three innings against Joe Root’s side before Saturday.
Now he survived a chance to Mark Stoneman off Mason Crane on 43 to hit 133 before he fell to Crane after tea against an England attack that included at least three of their Test bowlers in Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali.
As Jimmy Anderson and the fit-again Jake Ball were bowling in the Riverway Stadium nets in preparation for the Gabba, England were made to completely toil by Sangha and Short, who was captaining the CA XI here in north Queensland.
Short, who returned the best bowling figures of his fledgling career on Friday, now put on 263 with Sangha to complete England’s day of desperation, with captain Root looking an exasperated figure by the time the sides called it a day an hour before the scheduled close of this fourth day.
The home captain finished on 134 with Cricket Australia reaching 364 for four as England were reduced to using the part-time leg-spin of Dawid Malan before the game meandered to a draw.
The only mitigating factors are that England were keen that Woakes and Broad did not get ‘overcooked’ and had their overs limited while Root will know that Broad in particular is a big match performer.
But England will head to Brisbane on Sunday for the real business of this tour knowing, if they needed to be told, that there is a lot of hard work ahead if they are to make an impression on Australia and retain the Ashes.