Marcus Trescothick has defended England’s Ashes preparations after Ian Botham joined a chorus of criticism from former players over the decision to schedule just a single warm‑up game, saying ex-professionals need to bear in mind that “times have dramatically changed in the way that cricket is done”.
England’s assistant coach also laughed off attempts from the Australian media to compare his use of mints to help the ball swing in the 2005 Ashes with their own players’ notorious “sandpapergate” controversy.
