England pace spearhead James Anderson claimed four wickets as England’s opening Ashes tour match ended in a draw against a youthful Western Australia XI in Perth on Sunday.
Anderson finished with 4/27 as the second-string WA side reached 342 in reply to the tourists’ 349/6 declared in the two-day warm-up game.
England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker was driven a few times in his first spell of the tour and went for 18 in his five overs, but he tightened things up in his second and third bowling spells.
“You could probably see from the first session that we were pretty rusty as bowlers,” Anderson told reporters.
“We didn’t get it right. The point (of this warm-up match) is to try to get into the tour.
“We’ve got two first-class games coming up that we want to be fit for and get the cobwebs out.”
England’s bowlers initially struggled to make breakthroughs, with opening batsmen Jake Carder (22) and Josh Philippe (88) putting on 80 for the first wicket.
It was paceman Craig Overton who had Carder caught in the deep.
Philippe, 20, looked set for a century, stroking 16 boundaries in his 92-ball innings before he was stumped advancing to off-spinner Mason Crane in the over after lunch.
“Jimmy Anderson wasn’t too impressed early doors,” Philippe joked when asked what England thought about his sparkling innings.
“I just sort of laughed it off, because it was great to be there. It was a great experience.”
Philippe scored heavily in club cricket for Taunton this year and he also represented Durham’s second XI on a couple of occasions.
Twenty-one year-old Clint Hinchcliffe also took to the England attack as the bowlers flagged on a hot day in Perth.
Anderson’s new ball partner Stuart Broad (1/64) took time to find his rhythm, conceding 32 runs from his first five overs, while seamer Jake Ball returned a tidy 1/31 off 12 overs.
Crane (2/75) and Overton (2/70) did their Test debut chances against Australia no harm with good spells on the flat WACA Ground pitch.
The WA XI were bowled out for 338 but kept batting for the final few overs to give England additional practice time with the ball.
The first of the five-Test Ashes series begins in Brisbane on November 23.
England begin their second warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide on November 8.
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