As they lick their wounds after defeat in the first Test, during which they lost five wickets for 12 runs in their first innings and four for 11 in their second, England have been warned to prepare for conditions where “wickets fall in clumps” when the Ashes resume next week in Brisbane.
David Sandurski, curator at the Gabba, is preparing for a second day‑night game in quick succession after the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and Victoria, which ended on Monday with the home side winning by seven wickets inside three days.
Xavier Bartlett took five wickets in that game, while scoring 72 runs in the first innings. “Just on twilight the pink ball talks a little bit more and the game goes through massive ebbs and flows,” Bartlett said. “You see wickets falling in clumps. You’ve got to stay in it and make the most of that middle session. If the Test wicket is like the one we just played on, it will be a really good cricket wicket. We got a result in three days but when you bat well you get rewarded and if you bowl well it’s the same.”
Sandurski welcomed the early finish to the Sheffield Shield game, which he said would “make life just that little bit more comfortable”. He said: “All indications are there is a bit of heat around. The wicket will dry out a lot quicker so you’ve got to make sure you keep enough moisture in it to last five days. The aim is to provide a wicket where all players get a chance to perform their skills so hopefully all facets of the game come into the match.”
England have limited experience in pink-ball Tests: they have played seven in their history and two in the past five years, the most recent in New Zealand in February 2023 – one of only two they have won. Australia have played 14, including six in the past five years, with 13 wins and one defeat.
The tourists have nevertheless declined to send any of the players involved in the first Test to take part in the Lions’ two-day pink-ball game against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, which starts on Saturday. While that decision has been widely criticised, the former Australia Test bowler Peter Siddle, who is poised to play against the Lions, said they would probably have gained little from the game.
“The first Test didn’t go to plan for them but it’s such different conditions, Manuka Oval compared to the Gabba, two totally different surfaces,” he told Fox Sports.
“There’s not going to be a lot they can get out of it, other than maybe seeing a pink ball under lights, that’s probably the only benefit they’re going to get. It’s a hard one, I know what it’s like being on tour for a long time. It’s only the first Test just gone, but they just came from New Zealand most of that squad so they’ve played a lot of cricket.”
The former Australia batter Stuart Law, an expert on conditions at the Gabba having captained Queensland for many years, told the BBC: “I wouldn’t want to bat in Canberra and then go to Brisbane. 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.”
