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PERTH. — Paceman James Anderson picked up four wickets as England’s opening warm-up game of their Ashes cricket tour against a young Western Australia XI ended in a draw in Perth yesterday.

England’s most prolific wicket-taker was the standout bowler for the touring side after they declared on 349 for six before the start of play on the second day of the two-day match.

Anderson finished with figures of 4-27 from 13 overs but his opening partner Stuart Broad struggled for rhythm ahead of the five-test series against Australia starting later this month.

Broad picked up one for 64 from 13 overs while Chris Woakes, who last season struggled with injuries, went wicketless in 15 overs. “You could probably see from the first session that we were pretty rusty as bowlers,“ Anderson told reporters. ”We didn’t get it right. The point (of the warm-up match) is to try to get into the tour. “We’ve got two first-class games coming up that we want to be fit for and get the cobwebs out.”

Western Australia were bowled out for 338 but kept batting to allow England a full day on the field.

Leg-spinner Mason Crane and pace bowler Craig Overton picked up two wickets each, boosting their hopes of making their debuts during the series. Jake Ball returned figures of 1-31.

England’s bowlers initially struggled to make an impact as Western Australia openers Josh Philippe and Jake Carder put on 80 runs for the first wicket. Overton dismissed Carder for 22 to break the stand. — Reuters