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England Add Australia Warm-Up Match After Ashes Preparation Criticism England have taken steps to strengthen their preparation for their upcoming white-ball tour of Australia, with the team set to play a 50-over warm-up match against a Western Australia XI in Perth on November 7. The fixture comes after England faced significant criticism over their limited preparation before the 2025-26 Ashes series. Their previous Test tour featured only one warm-up game, an intra-squad contest against the England Lions at Lilac Hill, before Australia went on to dominate the series 4-1.  This time, England will have an opportunity to face local opposition before beginning their three-match ODI series against Australia. The warm-up will be played at the WACA Ground, six days before the first ODI at Perth's Optus Stadium. The ODI series will continue in Adelaide on November 15 before concluding in Hobart on November 18. England will then remain in Australia for a five-match T20 international series. The decision to include a local warm-up is particularly notable given what happened during the previous Ashes campaign. England's limited match practice became a major talking point after they struggled badly in the opening Test in Perth and eventually lost the series 4-1. Former players and analysts had argued that England needed more competitive cricket in Australian conditions. Brendon McCullum later acknowledged that the preparation could have been handled differently after the Ashes campaign failed to deliver the expected result. The new arrangement suggests England have taken some of those lessons on board, at least for their white-ball commitments. Facing Western Australia should give the players an opportunity to adjust to local conditions before going up against the Australian international side. England will first travel to Pakistan for an ODI tri-series involving Sri Lanka, with matches scheduled from October 20. They will then head to Australia for the November fixtures. The England squad has not yet been officially announced, although there is hope that Jacob Bethell will be available after recovering from a knee problem that required surgery. The upcoming tour will provide another test for England's white-ball setup under Brendon McCullum. With the team facing Australia in both ODI and T20 cricket, the additional preparation match could prove useful in helping players adapt before the competitive series begins. For England, the message is clear: preparation matters. After the controversy surrounding their previous visit to Australia, the decision to schedule a genuine match against local opposition gives the squad a chance to arrive better prepared this time around.