Ashes 2013-14: England bowlers got rid of rustiness, says Matt Prior

Matt Prior is confident England’s bowlers have got rid of a bit of “rustiness” after drawing their opening tour match against a Western Australia Chairman’s XI.

Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott both secured their respective tons on day three before the tourists were ousted for 391 runs in Perth.

After struggling in the first innings, England’s attack showed more promise as towering bowler Boyd Rankin secured his side’s best figures of 3-126.

And stand-in England captain Prior believes the warm-up match provided the tourists with a vital chance to dust off the cobwebs ahead of the first Ashes Test on 21 November.

“They’ve improved through the three days – got rid of that bit of rustiness,” Prior said of his seamers.

“Steven Finn bowled a long spell there. Certainly (in) the last four or five overs he really was hitting his straps again and his pace was up.

“Boyd Rankin was fantastic all day. A bloke with such height, and good pace and bounce, on these wickets could be a pretty useful weapon over here.

“Tremlett again just got better and better, more rhythm as the game went on.”

Prior added: “Our batters did fantastically. With the emphasis on big first-innings scores over here, we’ve not shied away from saying we need to score big runs.”