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There has been criticism of the tour schedule from former stars who did not think there were enough warm-up matches played.

The tourists played only one first-class match before the first Test at Lord's and Ian Chappell, Mark Taylor, Kim Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, thought the build-up was insufficient.

Steve Waugh and Ian Healy have also said it would have been helpful to play another early match but Marsh disagrees, telling The Australian: "They want to keep the tour games to a minimum.

"Going back over tours during the last few years there's always been only the one lead-up game then they get into it. It comes back to the amount of cricket being played."

Australia faced Leicestershire in a three-day game before the opening Test but bad weather has hindered them in matches against Worcestershire and Scotland.

The Aussies drew a two-day game against Northamptonshire at the weekend.