Ashes 2017: England left with more questions than answers after being made to toil in final warm-up

As far as preparations for the Ashes go, this was hardly ideal for England.

While Joe Root’s team expect to come up against stiff opposition from the likes of David Warner and Steve Smith in the series against Australia that starts in Brisbane on Thursday, they probably didn’t legislate for being flayed around the ground by two youngsters with a combined age of 40 who before this had played five first-class matches between them.

However, that’s exactly what happened as 18-year-old Jason Sangha and Matthew Short, 22, posted maiden first-class hundreds during a mammoth 263-run stand that denied England victory on the final day of this warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in tropical North Queensland.

The tourists had started this day effectively needing six wickets to win, with the CA XI 121 for three overnight and without injured opener Nick Larkin.

But those hopes against opposition they beat by 192 runs in Adelaide last week, were dashed as England’s bowlers went 66 demoralising overs without taking a wicket before Mason Crane, the leg-spinner with no hope of playing at the Gabba, dismissed Sangha for 133 shortly after tea.

It was some solace at least for Crane, who had Sangha dropped by Mark Stoneman early in the day when the teenager was on 41.

But Sangha fully capitalised on that good fortune by going on to become the youngest player to score a first-class century against England since a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar did likewise in the 1990 Old Trafford Test.

It’s amazing to think Sangha’s highest first-class score before this innings was five. Indeed, it’s just two weeks since he was playing Sydney Grade cricket for Randwick Petersham.

That is a club with a proud tradition of producing players who have gone on to represent Australia, the last of whom was Warner.

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And it’s unlikely the opener will be overly concerned about England’s attack on the basis of what he saw here.

Sangha and Short’s partnership helped their team overturn a first-innings deficit of 265. But with the CA XIs lead standing at 99 heading into the final hour, both captains shook hands on the draw much to the relief of Root and his players.

There were some mitigating factors in this bowling performance, not least the fact England bowled spin for much of the day in order to manage the workloads of their seamers.

Of those Chris Woakes, who took six first-innings wickets, appeared to be bowling within himself and Stuart Broad is still some way off his best.

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Craig Overton meanwhile appears to be going backwards in his race with Jake Ball for the fourth seamer’s slot in England’s side for Brisbane. The Somerset bowler sent down eight wicketless overs today, while Ball sent down 15 overs in the nets and spent much of the day on the field as a replacement to prove he has recovered from the ankle injury he sustained in Adelaide last week.

James Anderson, rested for this match, was put through his paces too in the nets, with no evident sign of the stomach bug that struck him earlier this week.

On this evidence, England will need him back and bang on form at the Gabba.