Cricket: England's first Ashes hurdle

ENGLAND COMPLETED their gruelling 28-hour journey to Australia last night only to be delayed by strict customs and immigration regulations on arrival.

The 17-man party arrived in Perth after a roundabout route from Heathrow yesterday, stopping at Dubai and Singapore following an England and Wales Cricket Board agreement with the World Cup sponsors, Emirates, to subsidise the first two legs of the journey.

But their long trip was delayed by a further 50 minutes as immigration officials cleaned grass off boots to follow the strict regulations regarding the importation of any agricultural seed or grass. Bat handles were also inspected and only Derbyshire's all-rounder Dominic Cork escaped the lengthy delay as all his boots were new.

The tour manager, Graham Gooch, explained: "We've encountered this sort of thing before on previous tours and there's not a lot you can do about it. It was a long journey but they did look after us well. We are just happy to be here."

"We've seen most of the world but now we're here to look at Australia," joked Alec Stewart. "We have come here to be competitive and to take the Ashes home to England."

The team were greeted at the airport by a handful of fans waving Union Jacks and Ben Hollioake's parents, John and Daria.

Adam Hollioake, England's one-day captain, has challenged the fringe players in the squad for the Wills International Cup in Bangladesh to stake a claim for a place in the World Cup side.

Hollioake - whose side face South Africa in the quarter- finals in Dhaka on Sunday - believes that there are only two or three places remaining to be claimed in the 14-strong squad for cricket's showpiece competition. England face Bangladesh in their final warm-up match at the BKSP ground today, following the 118-run win over Zimbabwe on Wednesday.