Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has backed the decision not to play warm-up games before a hectic summer in England. The veteran also added that Australia will be ready for the challenge. Former Aussie captain Allan Border slammed the national team a few days ago for refusing to play practice matches in England as well, fearing it might backfire like earlier this year in India. The veteran also shared that there is no substitute for game time as well.

Speaking to The Age, Cummins said: “It’s the nature of the schedule. But we feel really good. We’ve had a good prep up in Brisbane for a few days. It’s a pretty busy couple of months coming up and six Tests in two months is really hectic. You’d rather be fresh at the end of it than worn out. We’ve got a pretty experienced squad and have all played in England before, so we’ll be as ready as we’ll ever be.”

READ MORE: ‘Could have gone deeper’ – Shubman Gill on his knock

However, Australia played only one intra-squad practice match prior to the 2019 Ashes series in England as well. On the other hand, veteran opener David Warner backed up his captain, Pat Cummins, stating that Australia will be better prepared by facing their own bowlers in the nets as well. However, before the Ashes, Australia will play in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India as well.

ALSO READ: Viacom18 bags WIPL Media Rights for 5 years

“We’re playing so much cricket these days with so many people coming off different kinds of cricket or no cricket and getting their workloads up in their own way under supervision. I think when you’ve played a long time, another warm-up game isn’t going to get you ready. Why wouldn’t we just have a four-day session against our bowlers, and they can bowl the whole day and I can bat against the best bowlers in the world. It just makes sense,” David Warner further added.