(Reuters) -England must use the extra time ahead of the second test against Australia to practise with a pink ball under floodlights, according to former Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan.
Defeat in two days in the opener on Saturday put Australia one up in the five-match series and England will have until December 4 to stew before the second test starts in Brisbane.
Worryingly for England’s hopes of recovering from the debacle in Perth, Australia have won 13 of their 14 day-night Tests, including all three against England.
Vaughan said once the dust had settled, England should tweak their schedule to give the players an opportunity to stay sharp.
There is a match against a Prime Minister’s XI on November 29 but England’s Lions development side is down to provide the opposition in that rather than any of the touring test team.
“It’s amateurish if England don’t go out and practise between now and then,” Vaughan told Test Match Special.
“What harm is it playing two days of cricket with the pink ball under lights? I can’t be so old school to suggest that by playing cricket they might get a little bit better.
“My method would be, you’ve got a pink-ball two-day game, you go and grab it, go and take it, play those two days and give yourself the best chance.”
England went from a position of control at lunch on the second day to collapsing to 164 all out in their second innings, before a sensational Travis Head century led Australia to an eight-wicket victory in a frenetic match.
Captain Ben Stokes admitted his team were shell-shocked, but another former skipper, Nasser Hussain, backed England to shake it off and come back strong in Brisbane.
“They have to go into their bunker and dig deep. The one thing about this England side is that they do bounce back under Stokes and (coach) Brendon McCullum; they drew the last Ashes series in England from 2-0 down,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“They have a lot of character. They just have to show it now. But it is different in Australia. This is a defeat that will be difficult to come back from, I know that from experience. It is a mountain to climb for England but they have a lot of character and a captain with a lot of character.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
