Ashes: England's preparation hampered again as warm-up is washed out

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England's Ashes preparation took a further blow as the first day of their four-day intra-squad warm-up match was washed out without a ball being bowled.

Only 29 overs were possible across three days in England's first warm-up last week because of rain.

More bad weather is forecast for the remainder of their four-day match in Brisbane.

England have no other warm-up matches before the first Test begins at the Gabba on 8 December.

Australia are also due to play their only Ashes warm-up - another intra-squad match against Australia A - in Brisbane on Wednesday.

'Heads are in danger of dropping a bit'

Before England's last tour of Australia in 2017 England played a two-day game against a Western Australia XI before three and four-day games against a Cricket Australia XI.

With the 14-day quarantine upon entry to Australia, and the adverse weather, England's practice has been largely limited to indoor practice.

BBC Cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said the situation is "very demoralising" for the players.

"You can tell that by talking to a few of the players that heads are in danger of dropping a little bit," said Agnew on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"They are here to work and to play and to just open your curtains every morning and see it pouring with rain is very demoralising. Normally by now everything is ramping up."

Former England bowler Steven Finn, who has won three Ashes series, said the bowlers will feel the effect of the washout when the first Test comes round.

"That first day in the field - it really catches up with your body," said Finn.

"You can do all the amount of fitness training and all the net practice but standing on your feet for six hours through the day, bowling your overs at high intensity and then coming off the field and being mentally and physically exhausted and having to pull up and do it again.

"From the physical perspective it is going to be mightily difficult."

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