England's schedule for warm-up matches before Ashes 2025-26 revealed

Even though the current focus for the England Test side is on the ongoing five-match Test series against India at home, their preparation will begin for the upcoming winter’s Ashes 2025/26 trip to Australia. They will play an official practice match against the Lions at Lilac Hills in Perth for preparation of the opening game at Optus Stadium in late November. Cricket Australia announced the fixture of the three-day clash.

The warm-up contest will happen just a week before the opening Ashes Test on November 21. There is no way to avoid the public at Lilac Hills, which is an open park alongside the Swan River. The WACA is unavailable for the practice game due to the Sheffield Shield contest from November 11. However, they can do the centre-wicket training and net session in the days leading up to the opener.

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The reports have claimed that the Ben Stokes-led side could feature in a two-day game in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI between the first and second game at the Gabba, which will be a pink-ball contest. Meanwhile, the Lions will play three fixtures in total during their tour of Australia.

England to play one warm-up clash against England Lions for Ashes 2025/26

Following the England game, they will play a second four-day clash against Cricket Australia XI at the same venue. The opponent side is likely to be composed of the domestic and U-19 fringe players due to the Shield round. They will travel to Brisbane for the four-day game against Australia-A at the Allan Border Field in the first week of December.

These games will allow the management to play some of their unselected players in the format to keep their shape. The home selectors may field a strong eleven for the A-side in Brisbane, but that will also be against the sixth round of the Shield games. It will be the second Lions’ tour to Australia this year after they played three red-ball games against CA XI and Australia-A in January and February in Brisbane and Sydney.

England Lions tour schedule for Australia

November 13-15: England vs England Lions at Lilac Hill (Perth)

November 21-24: CA XI vs England Lions at Lilac Hill (Perth)

December 05-08: Australia A vs England Lions at Allan Border Field (Brisbane)