England batters opt out of pink-ball warm-up match despite first Ashes Test failures

England have not changed their plans for the second Test despite the chastening two-day defeat in Perth. Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images

To hell with the optics was the message from England on Monday after confirmation that none of the players who collapsed to the shattering two-day defeat in the first Ashes Test will change tack and travel to Canberra.

In a move that risks drawing further ire, only Jacob Bethell, Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts – all unused in Perth – will join the Lions at Manuka Oval, where Andrew Flintoff’s shadow touring party will take on a Prime Minister’s XI in a two-day floodlit fixture that starts on Saturday.