England legend makes bold claim ahead of pink-ball Ashes Test as damning statistic emerges

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Michael Vaughan believes it would be ‘amateurish’ if England don’t play a pink-ball warm-up game ahead of the Test in Brisbane.The tourists are already 1-0 down, losing the first Test in Perth inside two days.England were easily beaten in the end by AustraliaGettyIt is the first time an Ashes Test match has ended inside two days since 1921 as Travis Head scored Australia’s second-fastest Ashes century to see the hosts easily chase down 204.It followed a shambolic batting collapse from England in the second innings from 65-1 to 164 all out.Incredibly, Sir Alastair Cook faced more balls in one innings in the 2010/11 series than England did as a team across two innings in Perth.On that occasion, Cook scored 235 not out and faced 428 deliveries, occupying the crease for 625 minutes. But as a team, 11 batters in two innings didn’t get near that total – a damning reflection of the performance of Brendon McCullum’s men.And ahead of the second Test in Brisbane, Vaughan wants to see some real preparation.This is because this Test is a day-night one, meaning the conditions are very different.It is almost always harder to bat in this Test, and England’s record in Australia in this particular Test is terrible, losing every one.If that happens again, they will be 2-0 down, and from there, the series could be over.As a result, Vaughan is imploring England to have a practice day-night game.Vaughan knows exactly how to win Ashes series as captainSpeaking on the BBC’s Test Match Special, he said: “I would say it’s amateurish if they don’t go and play.“What damage is it going to do you as a team and as a player to play a pink-ball game to prepare yourself to play a pink-ball game against Starc?“I can’t be so old school to suggest playing cricket, you get a little bit better.“I’d like to know why they wouldn’t; they are professional cricketers, and I think they should go and prepare and play that pink-ball game.”Ashes debriefThe first Test was an example of the good, the bad and the ugly from England.Their bowling in the first innings was up there with some of the best we’ve seen from the Test team.Day two was up there with one of the worst in English cricket historyGettyThey knocked Australia out for just 132, but the batting in both innings was so poor that it didn’t give the bowlers enough time to rest.So when they returned, their pace was down, and Head took advantage.However, Ben Stokes has suggested that the Test team won’t be taking part in a pink-ball warm-up.What has been said?Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the first Test, Stokes implied nothing would change and plans would remain the same.That means England will head straight to Brisbane for the second Test.Meanwhile, there is an England XI taking part in a pink-ball game, but none of the Test players are going to take part.When asked if he was going to get his team involved in the match, Stokes said: “That is how it was done a long time ago.”He then added: “We prepare incredibly well.“We work incredibly hard every single day that we get the opportunity to work on our game, and that’s what we’ll keep on doing because we believe and we trust in our process.“If the results don’t go the way in our favour, that’s not going to differ from that (sic) because, hand on heart, we know that we put every little bit or ounce of ourselves into our training, and we know and believe that this is the best way for this team to operate.”