England send bowlers to Brisbane

England have confirmed that their first-choice bowling attack will travel to Brisbane early to prepare for the first Test and therefore miss the final tour match against Australia A in Hobart. James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn and Graeme Swann will leave the main squad on Wednesday and head to Queensland to being their acclimatisation for the opening Ashes encounter.

The four bowlers have played in both warm-up games to date against Western Australia and South Australia. Their workload and success has been sufficient for the management to opt for the plan of allowing them extra days in the tropical climate of Brisbane instead the more temperate Tasmania. There had been a suggestion that the rain-hit final day in Adelaide, which allowed England just 20.5 overs in the field second time around, might force a change of plans.

"The reasoning is that conditions in Hobart are very different to the ones in Brisbane, and we want to give that group of bowlers a little head start," Andy Flower, the England coach, said. "They are going three days earlier than the rest of us, and it will also give an opportunity to the other group of bowlers to put their names forward and perform well against Australia A."

Swann has enjoyed the most success with two four-wicket hauls, but the pace bowlers have all shown glimpses of top form during the two matches. Broad began the tour with two wickets in his first over against Western Australia, while Anderson has been consistent and allayed any concerns about the rib fracture he suffered during the training camp in Germany.

Finn was the least convincing of the quicks in Perth but has gradually improved during his two outings and came out with impressive reports from Adelaide last week. The management will also be cautious about over-bowling Finn who is still very new to international cricket having played eight Tests.

"Obviously, conditions can be quite different up in Brisbane - so we're getting a bit of a head start and three or four days extra up there," Broad said. "We've had two fantastic games as a bowling group together. Now it's all about preparation for that first Test match - and I see going up to Brisbane early as a great opportunity to get used to conditions."

The decision to release the main attack, who will travel with the bowling coach David Saker, means England's back-up players will get a chance to shine against Australia A. Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shahzad and Monty Panesar will form the bowling group for the four-day game. With an intense schedule of five Tests in six weeks it is highly likely that the reserve pacemen will be needed at some point.

"They haven't had a chance in the middle yet, so they should be desperate to get out there and prove themselves," Flower said. "Without a doubt, I would say, one or two of those guys are going to be playing Test cricket in the next couple of months - you don't have situations where the same bowling attack, or certainly not very often, play five Tests in a row.

"So it's a very real situation, an opportunity for them to put their names forward and also an opportunity for them to get bowling into them in preparation for just maybe playing in the first Test."

It is also expected that Eoin Morgan, the spare batsman in the squad, will get his first outing of the tour probably at the expense of Paul Collingwood who hit 94 against South Australia.