The Ashes: England quick Brydon Carse says Poms are ‘raring’ to go after Swan Valley warm up

England seamer Brydon Carse said the visitors are ‘raring to go’ after an understrength Australia as they completed their Ashes warm-up at Lilac Hill.

The England XI side won their clash against the Lions by five wickets, representing a first win for England in red ball cricket on Australian soil since the 2010-11 series.

While far sterner challenges lie ahead than what they faced in the idyllic surroundings of the Swan Valley, Carse said the tourists got what they needed from the match.

“The last couple of days of been good to bowl some spells and get a couple miles under the legs, it’s a good feeling,” he said.

“The batters have spent some time out in the crease, and the group of seamers all got a decent amount of overs in. We’ve got a couple of days off now and then three or four days of prep leading into that first Test.”

It comes as England are presented with a golden opportunity to win the first Test after premier Australian quick Josh Hazelwood was ruled out with a hamstring concern, joining Pat Cummins on the sidelines.

Carse said he was unaware of the news until after the day’s play, but said he would be a massive loss for Australia.

“He’s obviously a massive bowler for Australia, and I’m sure we’ll certainly see some part of him throughout the series,” he said.

“He’s certainly a bowler I’ve admired throughout my career, and his performances and importance to Australian cricket, he’s a phenomenal bowler.”

While Carse avoided claiming outright favouritism, there was no hiding the confidence he and the rest of his team are feeling ahead of Friday.

“It’s going to be amazing if the opportunity comes, the guys have all had a good three days out here, the group of players have had a lot of cricket over the last couple of months.”

“Everyone is raring to go, I think we’ve got a good six bowlers to the job, whatever the conditions.”

England have been keen to shut down claims they are not doing enough to prepare for the blockbuster series, with Saturday their final hit-out ahead of the first Test.

It was hardly a tense affair either, with players swapping teams to get overs under the belts and players enjoying the largely English home crowd.

The Lions bowlers also seemed sheepish every time they got a wicket, with spinner Will Jacks almost having to stop himself from celebrating after bowling Joe Root with a beauty.

Root proved popular among the fans as did opener Ben Duckett, taking time to grab selfies and signing autographs with them while fielding on the boundary.

Lions opener Ben McKinney, who Stokes has joked is his bodyguard, standing at over 2 metres tall, also stopped to sign shirts amongst the pro-English crowd, which only grew throughout the day and stayed long after stumps to line up for more selfies and signatures.

Any Australian dissenters were mostly restricted to honking their horns as they drove past, though there were no colourful words of advice as was shared with the Poms on day one.

English seamer Mark Wood was also seen around the ground, having been cleared of a hamstring injury, but was largely a spectator on day three as the tourists weigh up whether to risk him in Perth.

“He’s all up and about and full of energy; he’s got a huge amount of resilience to keep coming out and get back on the field,” Carse said.

“For any player, when you’re waiting for the results of a scan, it can be a little bit niggly but he felt confident that it was going to be nothing serious.”

Fellow paceman Jofra Archer bowled just five wicketless overs on day three, taking his match tally to 1-66 off 17.3 overs.

Despite playing just two Test matches in the past four years, Carse has strong belief he can will be the man to end their Australian drought.

“Jof’s obviously been playing now for over two years, injury-free touch wood, he’s in a happy place and feeling really, really confident heading into the series.

“He’s got that X-Factor and he’s shown that around the world, so it’s very exciting.”