{"id":2065,"date":"2025-11-25T12:14:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=2065"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:14:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:14:03","slug":"the-ashes-england-canberra-decision-backed-by-former-captain-alec-stewart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=2065","title":{"rendered":"The Ashes: England Canberra decision backed by former captain Alec Stewart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">England feel they can better prepare in a controlled environment in the nets in Queensland, rather than in a match where a batter may not get extended time in the middle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The tourists were due to start netting again on Monday, but may take up the option of a session on Sunday. Two of their training sessions will be under floodlights before the second Test begins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Stewart, 62, played for England during a turbulent period in the 1990s, when heavy defeats overseas were often followed by extra training sessions dubbed &#8216;naughty boy nets&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s easy to say &#8216;send them all there&#8217;, but that becomes naughty boy nets syndrome,&#8221; said Stewart, now Surrey&#8217;s high-performance cricket director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Naughty boy nets is not how you should work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Another reason for England not separating their playing group is a desire to keep the bulk of the squad together for purposes of camaraderie and morale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">England have not won a Test in Brisbane since 1986 and have a poor record in pink-ball matches, winning only two of their seven.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Australia have won 13 of their 14 day-night Tests and in Mitchell Starc, who took 10 wickets in Perth, have the best pink-ball bowler in the world in their attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s important England don&#8217;t panic,&#8221; said Stewart. &#8220;The outside noise is very loud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I always judge people in adversity. How are they going to bounce back? If they are a tight-knit group, looking out for each other and they know how to prepare for Brisbane, let them do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">England have not won any of their past 16 Tests in Australia, dating back to 2011. Before this Ashes began, coach Brendon McCullum said the series could &#8220;define&#8221; his team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking in the aftermath of the Perth defeat, both McCullum and captain Ben Stokes explained why the Canberra game is not on the schedule, but have not spoken since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;McCullum and Stokes are two very fine leaders. Let them do it,&#8221; said Stewart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Succeed or fail, as long as you have done your best, you can be judged. If they lose in Brisbane but believe they have done things the right way, they can&#8217;t do any more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Emotions are running high and I get that. When you&#8217;re a decision-maker in the inner circle, can you take a step back and not allow the outside noise to influence decisions? Then, McCullum, Stokes and the players can be judged accordingly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England feel they can better prepare in a controlled environment in the nets in Queensland, rather than in a match where a batter may not get extended time in the middle. The tourists were due to start netting again on Monday, but may take up the option of a session on Sunday. Two of their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}