Warm up matches on cricket tours despite touring teams struggling to acclimatise to new conditions appear to becoming fewer and fewer. Australia had one game planned before they play World number One test team South Africa and that has been postponed due to bad weather, so it will be interesting to see how they perform with no practise out in the middle.
In New Zealand India were playing a warm up match prior to the first test match in their series, but the home side were involved in a very different form of preparation. They were preparing lunch for workers and playing indoor cricket at a car company showroom in Auckland as part of a sponsorship arrangement!
One has to wonder whether the lack of warm up games is in fact damaging to the game and the spectacle that the public pays to watch. One thing is for sure if New Zealand star the Test match poorly or lose it, questions will be asked as to whether this was the ideal preparation. Similarly questions may well be asked as to why Australia only planned one warm up game should they get beaten.
Are teams undervaluing the importance of proper match preparation? The proof may well be in the results.
