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Cricket Australia XI v England: Match ends in a draw after England toil on final day
England managed a solitary wicket all day in their final match action before the Ashes, but still earned the praise of coach Trevor Bayliss.
Cricket Australia XI v England XI (Townsville)
Match drawn
Cricket Australia XI 1st inns: 250 (Short 51; Woakes 6-54, Overton 2-32, Broad 2-33)
England XI 1st inns: 515 (Stoneman 111, Malan 109, Root 83, Cook 70; Short 4-103, Milenko 2-86)
Cricket Australia XI 2nd inns: 364-4 (Short 134*, Sangha 133, Gibson 49, Carder 34; Ali 2-88, Crane 2-97)
Day four report and reaction
England managed a solitary wicket all day in their final match action before the Ashes, but still earned the praise of coach Trevor Bayliss.
Rookie batsmen Jason Sangha (133) and his Cricket Australia XI captain Matt Short (134no) shut England out for 75 overs in all, putting on a remarkable 263 together, as the inexperienced hosts racked up 364 for four on a flat pitch.
Joe Root's attack had no answer, and the only wicket they could muster - 18-year-old Sangha's, caught sweeping off his 226th ball - fell to Mason Crane, the bowler least likely of all to be involved in next week's first Test in Brisbane.
Nonetheless, reflecting on the stalemate at the Tony Ireland Stadium as well as a resounding victory over the same opponents in Adelaide last week and another draw against a Western Australia XI in Perth, Bayliss pronounced himself satisfied with England's warm-up campaign.
"Over the three games we have got about as much as we possibly could," he said, reasoning that even their unsuccessful last day in Townsville could end up being beneficial when the going inevitably gets tough at some point against Australia over the next eight weeks.
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"Today wasn't the perfect game of cricket for us.
"But it's time in the dirt, and we will probably have another one or two of them in the Test matches.
"It was probably good to experience it, and the heat as well."
Bayliss insists conditions, and fine batting from CA's fourth-wicket pair, provided ample mitigation for England's lack of progress after most had expected them to wrap up another convincing win after banking a 265-run first-innings lead.
"We are always a bit disappointed when we don't take 10 for 90," he said.
"But the wicket was very flat, and those two young guys batted very well.
"If you play cricket long enough those days will happen. They stuck at it, and that's all you can ask.
"Over the three games, we started slow, then built it up over the last couple of games.
"A Test match, an Ashes Test, will see our intensity rise as high as it possibly can."
After Craig Overton's travails in Townsville, where he recorded match figures of two for 97 and registered his third successive duck on tour, fit-again Jake Ball appears to have moved back ahead of him as England's probable fourth seamer at the Gabba.
Bayliss said: "I thought Ball was our best bowler in Perth, and he started off that way again in Adelaide too.
"He's fine now, bowled yesterday, got through a few spells in the nets today - and now he's bowling again [in middle practice after the early close].
"He should be fit and raring to go."
Day three report
England encountered bumps on the road but are still bang on course for a resounding win over a Cricket Australia XI after Dawid Malan's hundred in their final Ashes warm-up match.
Malan (109) - 12/1 to be England's leading runscorer in the Test series - became the second centurion of this tour, sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 163 with Joe Root (83) in a first innings which realised 515 all out despite one of England's trademark collapses at the Tony Ireland Stadium.
Then with a mammoth lead of 265 in the bank, their seamers drew a blank as the hosts – even with usual opener Nick Larkin out of this match after breaking his finger in the field – put on a seamless 80 for none on the way to a more fragile 121 for three by stumps on day three.
Larkin's replacement Ryan Gibson did most to hinder England's progress, falling just a run short of his second first-class 50, when he was Moeen Ali's second victim – bowled sweeping.
It will probably prove of limited significance, save for as a continuation of bad habits, that England earlier frittered away five wickets for 38 runs as Matt Short (four for 103) multiplied by five his career tally of first-class wickets and more than halved his previous average of 91.
Three fell for just a single either side of lunch, including an inconvenient failure for Moeen in what seems sure to be his only innings before the first Test, before Chris Woakes put things right again by engineering a last-wicket stand of 58 with gritty number 11 Mason Crane.
On a day marked elsewhere by the sound and fury surrounding Australia's curious squad selection for the first two Tests, England had the chance to quietly go about their business.
They would have preferred to see Root head to Brisbane next week with a hundred under his belt – but instead he got an edge down the leg-side off seamer Simon Milenko and fell to a very good diving catch by young wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen.
Jonny Bairstow is another batsman saving some runs for the Tests, fifth out and the first to go for under 20 after spearing a low full toss to mid-on off leg-spinner Daniel Fallins (three for 127).
Malan made no mistake as he posted England's second century in consecutive days, reaching his milestone from 192 balls.
He hit nine fours in a chanceless hundred, his first in England colours, characterised by unflustered shot selection and some pretty driving off both pace and spin.
Malan still looked a little peeved to be run out when Moeen called him for the single, after his inside-edge into the leg-side off Fallins, and Jake Carder's direct hit found him short of his ground.
Moeen was bowled through the gate by Short just before lunch, and the off-spinner was on a hat-trick when Craig Overton pushed the first ball of the afternoon straight to short-leg to add a golden duck here to his two noughts in Adelaide last week.
Stuart Broad was caught off a mis-sweep at Short, but Woakes and Crane then dug in.
Carder and Gibson then made a fine start in reply until the left-hander edged an attempted drive at Moeen to slip – and after Will Pucovski went the same way to Crane, the hosts had lost two wickets stuck on their bogey number 87.
Day three reaction
Paul Farbrace on England's day: "If we're honest, it was a bit of a mixed day.
"We feel we'd had two really good previous days, and perhaps (on Friday) we just slipped a fraction from the standards we would have expected.
"We've got ourselves in a good position in the game. But in terms of going into next week's match, perhaps we've not quite been as good as we could have been.
"It's probably quite a good timely reminder, with the Test starting next week, that we've got to be fully focused every day and every session... on our game all the time."
On centurions Stoneman and Malan: "I think both have shown right from the start that they've adapted to conditions and are quite well suited to them.
"Malan found England a little bit of a struggle (last) summer, ball nipping around a little bit.
"But here, with the ball bouncing and coming on to the bat, he looks very much at home."
Day two report
Mark Stoneman took his cue from coach Trevor Bayliss to post the first century of England's Ashes tour.
On a second day of four against a Cricket Australia XI, which also featured a return to form for Alastair Cook (70) before next week's first Test in Brisbane, Stoneman's 111 underpinned England's 337 for three in reply to 250 all out.
He was answering the call from Bayliss, after England's preceding fixture against the same opponents in Adelaide last week, for "160s, not 60s" on this tour.
Stoneman, who is 11/2 with Sky Bet to be England's top runscorer in the Ashes series, fell almost exactly between those two figures when he was caught-and-bowled by leg-spinner Daniel Fallins.
But England were doubtless grateful and reassured nonetheless after he shared an opening stand of 172 with Cook and then consolidated his three successive 50s already on his maiden Ashes tour by moving to three figures from 140 balls.
Captain Joe Root (62no) and Dawid Malan (57no) then ruled the evening session at the Tony Ireland Stadium, respectively with their second and third 50s of the tour in an unbroken century partnership as England took advantage of benign conditions and an inexperienced attack.
Cook was always following Stoneman at a respectful distance as he made his first half-century in almost three months.
After CA XI added just one run for their final wicket, Stuart Broad bouncing out number 11 Harry Conway in the second over of the morning, Cook made a watchful but convincing start.
He took 11 balls to get off the mark, with a two pushed past cover off Gurinder Sandhu, and counted two boundaries in the same over - the first off his hip before an on-drive.
Stoneman then took over, while Cook was stuck on 10 for a further 24 deliveries, and it was the junior partner who kept England ticking at near four-an-over.
There was risk involved, though, and on 41 Stoneman was dropped at gully by Nick Larkin as he climbed into his favourite cut shot again off first-change Simon Milenko.
Larkin suffered a broken finger and the opener is not expected to be able to bat in CA's second innings.
Cook played barely a false shot, and began milking percentage runs from the spinners and driving well against pace - with just one minor moment of fortune on 40, when Sandhu was unable to take a tough return chance low in his follow-through.
There was to be no century for Cook, though, because it was he rather than Stoneman who fell cutting when he edged off-spinner Matt Short behind.
James Vince accompanied Stoneman to three figures only for the number three to depart, after a long conference between the two umpires, to a mildly controversial bat-pad catch to short-leg off Fallins.
Stoneman then went in the first over after tea, but Root and Malan cashed in against the old ball on a slow pitch.
They totalled just six boundaries between them in their 50s but did the necessary to boost individual and collective confidence as England moved into a commanding first-innings lead and no batsman made fewer than Vince's 26.
Day two reaction
Mark Stoneman on his form ahead of the first Test next week: "It feels like my game is in good order. (But) it's going to be tested a hell of a lot more come next week, that's for sure.
"There's no doubts about that, and everyone is aware of it.
"Obviously, there's going to be more pace and bounce in the attack and the pitch at Brisbane."
Day one report
Chris Woakes continued his heartening form with six more wickets on day one of England's final Ashes warm-up match.
Woakes did most to restrict a Cricket Australia XI to 249 for nine, despite a hard-working half-century from home captain Matt Short.
The Warwickshire player followed up his four for 12 in the second innings of England's Adelaide victory over the same opponents with a rush of four for eight in 22 balls here.
Eventual figures of six for 54 were deserved for England's best bowler by far.
All ended well then at Townsville's Tony Ireland Stadium, but only after the tourists had endured an anxious hour while Jonny Bairstow was off the pitch receiving a reassuring diagnosis of nothing worse than a bruised middle finger on his left hand after an awkward take off Woakes.
England have already seen Steven Finn fly home with torn knee cartilage and have another seamer, Jake Ball, recovering on the sidelines after straining ankle ligaments last week.
A significant Bairstow injury would have been among the worst of all setbacks to their plans for next week's first Test, but England did not have to worry for long.
Their wicketkeeper was able to return none the worse, after his deputy Ben Foakes had filled the gap and duly taken a catch too to account for Woakes' third wicket.
On a slow pitch, after CA won the toss, Woakes broke an opening stand of 66 with the first ball of his second spell - after he and Stuart Broad had drawn a new-ball blank.
Nick Larkin aimed an expansive drive on the up and fell to the first and best of three sharp gully catches by James Vince.
Jake Carder continued to drive well down the ground only to follow another straight boundary with an edge behind, pushing forward, to the final delivery of Woakes' second comeback over.
Bairstow's misfortune struck straight after lunch, so it was Foakes who completed the dismissal of Ryan Gibson before Woakes then pitched one further up and had Jason Sangha lbw second ball.
Craig Overton, also building on his success in Adelaide, interrupted the Woakes show with a wicket before tea - courtesy of the returning Bairstow's straightforward catch after Will Pucovski played without feet and edged another behind.
Short (51) had some luck, each time off Mason Crane, surviving a half-chance to point on 25 and then a more obvious one on 36 when Joe Root was sloppy at slip.
Vince's second catch did for Harry Nielsen, and provided Woakes' fifth, before Short completed a 118-ball 50 which contained just two fours.
Root then soon took his second opportunity to see off his opposite number with a neat catch this time, at second slip off Overton.
Woakes would have had his sixth had Bairstow held Simon Milenko's low edge on nought, but he was back with the second new ball to take others out of the equation when he yorked the same batsman for a wicket with the first delivery of a new spell again.
Vince's third catch then gave Broad a late wicket for good measure, Gurinder Sandhu edging his drive as England were set to finish with a flourish until number 10 Daniel Fallins took Crane for 16 in the last over before stumps.
James Anderson has been laid low with a stomach bug but demonstrated he is on the mend by bowling in the nets during lunch.
Day one reaction
Chris Woakes on his form ahead of next week's first Test at the Gabba: "All the numbers are saying that I'm getting close to being 'cooked' ... I'm pleased with where I'm at. A week away from the first Test, it's always nice to hit a bit of form.
"As a bowling unit, we feel like we've gone really well today.
"We want to continue to work on plans we might be taking into the Test series, and hope to bring about some confidence."