Bairstow gloves a chance to impress for Ashes

Bairstow has been included in the tourists’ final Ashes warm-up match against an Australian Invitational XI due to injury to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Yorkshire colleagues Joe Root and Gary Ballance are also in line to be included in the England side for the match scheduled to start in Sydney tomorrow.

An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman confirmed Prior has torn his calf and will miss the final warm-up game so Bairstow has the chance to capitalise after it seemed he might spend much of this tour carrying drinks and other requirements for his team-mates.

Bairstow cannot yet know whether his centre-stage role will extend to the first Test in Brisbane a week on Thursday but, given the nature of Prior’s injury, that must rate a significant possibility at this stage.

The ECB spokesman said: “Matt Prior has been ruled out of the tour game with a low-grade tear of his left calf. He will continue his rehab and recovery with a view to being fit for the first Test match.”

As the rain continued to pour in Sydney, Ian Bell looked on the bright side over the injury clouds hanging over Prior and, to a lesser degree, Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen’s fitness is being monitored with the batsman only taking a small part in England’s indoor nets and drills at the SCG yesterday.

England were confined to indoor training due to the weather in Sydney, where it has rained for much of the past 24 hours and is expected to carry on for another day at least.

It was hardly the welcome they would have wanted in Australia’s biggest city, having spent much of the past week shivering and sheltering through a scheduled four-day fixture in Hobart which was more than halved in duration by bad weather.

There is more than a crumb of comfort in a favourable prognosis for Pietersen’s problem right knee – after a scan and cortisone jab in Melbourne – and it was Bell’s duty to accentuate the positive.

“I suppose it’s not ideal, but it gives a good opportunity to Jonny Bairstow,” said Bell of Prior’s absence. “We’ve seen in the past how important it is to get the whole of the squad playing cricket before the series starts – because you just never know, with five Tests to come.

“It’s disappointing as Matt has been a key part of our success over the last few years, and obviously we want him to recover as quickly as possible.”

As for the Gabba, the party line appears to be cautious optimism.

Bell delivered it: “There’s still a bit of time. Matt’s got himself in fantastic condition for this tour, and he’ll be very good with his rehab.

“I’ve got every faith that he’ll be fully-fit for Brisbane.

“But it’s good for Jonny, in this game, to get out there with the gloves on in an England shirt.”

Pietersen’s diversion to Melbourne for treatment and an updated appraisal of the injury which kept him out for three months earlier this year, and almost required surgery, appears to have had a good outcome.

Asked for his fellow batsman’s chances of playing this week, and how Pietersen is feeling, Bell said: “Really well. I don’t know the XI. But I’d have thought he’s definitely up for selection, and would have thought he’ll play.”

Even so, none of the above adds up to the seamless preparation England had for their last campaign here, which ended in a historic 3-1 series victory.

Bell is not trying to pretend otherwise, accepting England’s Ashes build-up has not gone entirely according to plan but insisting that will not put the tourists off.

“I don’t think we’re always going to get what we had last time here,” added Bell. “Obviously, things went incredibly well (then).

“With the weather we’ve had, to have four hundreds out of two batting innings is a fantastic start to the tour... so that’s a good sign for us.”

As coach Andy Flower had pointed out in Hobart, it is, in any case, folly to try to recreate the past, and England, under his guidance, will not be tempted down that route.

“We’ve got what we’ve got. I don’t think it worries too many people,” said Bell.

“We’ve got a lot of experience in the team that can cope with that. Everyone will be 100 per cent ready for Brisbane, no doubt.”

Whether that applies to Prior or Pietersen remains open to question.

Another Yorkshire player, Tim Bresnan, meanwhile, says that his back “feels great” as he steps up his recovery from a stress fracture of the lower back with the Ashes squad.

Bresnan, who will be writing an Ashes column for the Yorkshire Post and who last played in the fourth Test during August, is not officially part of the touring party but is training with them with a view to playing later in the series.

Australia captain Michael Clarke was “devastated” by their lack of success in England in the summer but will be sticking to his same attacking instincts again in the Ashes rematch.

Clarke’s captaincy drew praise from many – even on the way to Australia’s 3-0 defeat.

He is the antithesis as a tactician of his more conservative opposite number Alastair Cook.

Asked if he may tone down some of his methods – inventive field-settings, bowling changes et al – Clarke said: “I hope not because if that’s the case, they’ve got the wrong man as captain.”

The 32-year-old missed both last summer’s Champions Trophy in England, and then Australia’s one-day series in India, because of a chronic back problem.

He has been back in action, and form, for New South Wales but – along with fast bowlers Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle – will sit out this week’s Sheffield Shield programme.