I AM sure the one-day series in Australia will prove to be a closely-fought contest that throws up some fantastic cricket.

But why are England preparing for a World Cup on the slow and low wickets of the sub-Continent by playing on the hard and fast decks served up Down Under?

Surely both sides would be better served getting on a plane to India or Sri Lanka and competing against each other out there?

I appreciate that the Australian Cricket Board will want to squeeze every last penny they can out of an Ashes tour but their own team – and certainly England’s – would gain more from moving this series, or some of it, perhaps half, to the part of the globe where they will shortly contest a World Cup.

The money-minded officials might point to the fact that games between the two countries in a neutral country would struggle to attract spectators – but it worked when Pakistan played the Aussies in England last summer.

And thousands pack into grounds around India to watch the best players in the world play in the IPL.

Australian spectators would miss out if the series was moved, but both teams could come to an arrangement where England return another time for some one-day matches – maybe before their next tour of New Zealand?

The appetite for top-class cricket is so high in places like Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi that I am sure the locals would turn out in force.

On another note, it is good to see Matt Prior in England’s World Cup squad after he was discarded from the original squad to face Australia.

But the idea of him opening the batting alongside Andrew Strauss is doomed to failure.

The Sussex man is a great man to come in lower down the order when you want quick runs, but he is not good enough technically to deal with the best bowlers in the world – especially when there will be pressure on him to play his shots.

Ian Bell, who came to the crease at number five in the first one-day international on Sunday, is the perfect man to get England off to a quick, but sensible, start alongside the captain.

And that gives hitters like Prior, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan the platform to go and win matches.