Overview
- England confirmed on Monday that they will play a 50‑over warm‑up against a Western Australia XI at the WACA Ground on Saturday, November 7, six days before the first ODI at Optus Stadium.
- McCullum has said the fixture is intended to get players "up to speed" because, he warned, the squad has limited 50‑over experience beyond Jos Buttler, Joe Root and Adil Rashid.
- The match will be the first time a men’s international outfit has played at the redeveloped WACA since 2022 and offers local WA players a chance to test themselves against international opposition.
- England’s wider white‑ball tour runs from November 13 to December 2 and includes three ODIs followed by five T20s, with this warm‑up inserted to provide match practice ahead of that schedule.
- The fixture marks a deliberate return of formal tour warm‑ups for England after six years without them and represents a shift from last winter’s criticised in‑house preparation at Lilac Hill.