![\"England's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ee5f5bb41a88558f05d66d38def4f0a5.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nEngland\u2019s batters have no excuses for their struggles in the first Ashes Test according to the International Cricket Council, who have handed the Perth pitch its highest possible rating.<\/p>\n
Ben Stokes\u2019 side lost all 20 wickets in just 67.3 overs at the crease in the series opener, the first two-day finish between the rivals in 104 years. Opener Zak Crawley was out for nought in each innings, adding to a painful tally of 11 single figure dismissals.<\/p>\n
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Australia were also skittled rapidly in their first attempt before a stunning fourth-innings century from Travis Head reversed the trend of ball dominating bat.<\/p>\n
Local media had dubbed the 22-yard strip a \u201cgreen monster\u201d but the verdict is now in and it concludes that the track was not part of the problem. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle\u2019s pitch report has confirmed the officials saw the surface at Perth Stadium as an ideal Test surface.<\/p>\n
It was graded as \u201cvery good\u201d, the best of four possible ratings, with praise for \u201cgood carry, limited seam movement, and consistent bounce early in the match, allowing for a balanced contest between batters and bowlers\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Cricket Australia (CA) took a heavy financial hit on lost ticket revenue and matchday spend, while enormous quantities of unused food were donated to local charities in Western Australia.<\/p>\n
CA\u2019s chief of cricket James Allsopp said: \u201cThe match referee\u2019s \u2018very good\u2019 rating justifies our belief Perth Stadium produced a pitch that provided a fair balance between bat and ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dominance of some brilliant pace bowling from both sides and the frenetic nature of the contest meant the match lasted only two days.<\/p>\n
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England\u2019s Zak Crawley failed to score a run in Perth. (Robbie Stephenson\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was disappointing for fans holding tickets for days three and four, but we saw some incredible moments which captivated huge viewing audiences and will inspire even more kids to pick up a bat and ball this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, England have booked an extra training session in Brisbane as they look to bounce back from the bruising defeat in the first Ashes Test.<\/p>\n
Ben Stokes\u2019 wounded squad left the scene of their false start behind them as they swapped Western Australia for Queensland, where preparations will begin for the day\/night second Test beginning next Thursday.<\/p>\n
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Having courted criticism by declining to send any of their first-choice players for a pink ball warm-up in Canberra this weekend \u2013 with squad members Jacob Bethell, Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts the only senior additions to the England Lions group \u2013 they will spend five days working together in the run-up to the match.<\/p>\n
Four sessions will take place at the Test venue from Sunday onwards, two in the afternoon and two under the floodlights, but an additional, optional slot has also been arranged on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Management have booked the Allan Border Field, named after the former Australia captain and home to the country\u2019s national academy, for a morning workout.<\/p>\n
It will provide a first opportunity for players to get back to action after the disappointment of their premature defeat in Perth.<\/p>\n
England were met by camera crews and media at departures and arrivals, facing further questions over their schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thinking about what we need to do in Brisbane, mate,\u201d Stokes said in a brief exchange with a Channel 7 reporter.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re preparing as best we can and we\u2019re look forward to the next game,\u201d was Joe Root\u2019s brief response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England\u2019s batters have no excuses for their struggles in the first Ashes Test according to the International Cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[155853,186,43331,748,17896,393,4884,8422,146058,568,187523,16,15,569,56968],"class_list":{"0":"post-596532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-ashes-test","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ben-stokes","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-cricket-australia","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-international-cricket-council","16":"tag-match-referee","17":"tag-perth","18":"tag-perth-stadium","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-western-australia","22":"tag-zak-crawley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}