Australia captain Pat Cummins has defended the move of not playing any warm-up matches ahead of the World Test Championship final and Ashes, citing the nature of the hectic schedule, which leaves them with no time for playing practice games.

Australia adopted a no tour match policy since their tour of Pakistan last year. “It’s the nature of the schedule. But we feel really good. We’ve had a good prep up in Brisbane for a few days. It’s a pretty busy couple of months coming up and six Tests in two months is really hectic.