England batting is vulnerable: Harris

England's batting has been described as vulnerable by Cricket Australia XI coach Ryan Harris.

Craig Overton

Craig Overton was one of England's destroyers in their win over a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide. (AAP)

England's batting has been branded as vulnerable by Cricket Australia XI coach Ryan Harris.

Harris believes he's gathered valuable intelligence on England's weaknesses from a tour game to pass on to Australian coach Darren Lehmann ahead of the Ashes.

England thumped Harris' inexperienced CA XI by 192 runs in their warm-up game in Adelaide.

The tourists suffered a horror batting collapse of 7-45 on Friday before being rescued by their pacemen, who skittled the CA XI for 75 to secure victory on Saturday.

Asked if England's batting was vulnerable, Harris replied: "It is, absolutely.

"Especially with no (Ben) Stokes at six or seven.

"But it depends on how the boys bowl to them. If the boys bowl loose and wide, there's troubles.

"But we have got some good intel and some good knowledge on what we want to do which I will pass on to our (Test) bowlers."

Evergreen opener Alastair Cook is among England's issues - after a second-ball duck in their tour-opener in Perth, he made 15 and a scratchy 32 in Adelaide.

"He looked a bit rusty," Harris said of Cook.

"He obviously had a good county season, he is probably coming off some good form.

"But it's different in our conditions. He is pretty good in these conditions, he had a good 2010-11 (series) here so he knows what he has to do.

"I'm sure he will look forward to another hit next week ... we all know what he can do, we know he's world-class."

The tourists depart Adelaide for a four-day game against the CA XI starting Wednesday in Townsville with fresh injury concerns.

Paceman Jake Ball suffered strained ligaments in his right ankle when bowling on Thursday, just days after fellow quick Steven Finn was sent home because of a knee injury.

Seamer Tom Curran has arrived as Finn's replacement while Sussex seamer George Garton will be added to the squad for the Townsville game.

Spinning allrounder Moeen Ali will make his first competitive appearance on tour in Townsville, having recovered from a side strain.

But England remain resigned to being without Stokes for the Ashes series which starts on November 23 in Brisbane - he remains at home pending the outcome of a police investigation into a street fight in late September.


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Source: AAP



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