England to play warm-up match ahead of Australia ODI series

England will play a 50-over warm-up match against a Western Australia XI ahead of their upcoming white-ball series against Australia. The fixture is scheduled to take place on November 7 at the WACA in Perth.

This decision follows criticism regarding the team's preparation for the previous Ashes tour, during which England played only an intra-squad match at Lilac Hill. That preparation was widely viewed as inadequate for the bouncy conditions encountered during the series, which resulted in a 4-1 defeat.

The white-ball squad, led by coach Brendon McCullum, sought to secure local opposition for this tour to better acclimatize to Australian conditions. The warm-up match serves as a lead-in to the first one-day international against Australia, which is set for November 13 at Optus Stadium.

Following the opening ODI in Perth, the two teams will play further matches in Adelaide on November 15 and Hobart on November 18. The tour will conclude with a series of five T20 internationals held across Melbourne, Carrara, Brisbane, Sydney, and Canberra.

England has yet to announce the official squads for the tour. There is an expectation that Jacob Bethell may be available for selection, provided he recovers from the knee injury and subsequent surgery that caused him to miss the latter portion of the home summer.