WAGs distracting the English at Ashes, feels Kim Hughes

London, Dec 2 (UNI) Former Australian skipper Kim Hughes feels the wives and girlfriends of the English team should not have been allowed to accompany them in the Ashes at least until the third Test as their presence is preventing the defending champions from focussing on the task at hand.

''I was surprised to see the wives and girlfriends of the England players travelling on the team bus in Brisbane and leaving the airport arm-in-arm with their partners,'' Hughes told 'The Independent'.

''I don't think that having all the wives and girlfriends over here so early in the tour has helped the team at all. Make no mistake, I love my wife and my four children and I think it would be perfectly acceptable for them to be in Perth for the third Test in a couple of weeks time,'' he added.

Hughes said the players should have remained alone in the first two Tests so as to focus on cricket but with wives and girlfriends in toe, they will be distracted.

''The first two Tests of a tour should be all about the cricket.

That is what you are here to do. It is your job and you are paid well to do it,'' the Aussie explained.

''At this stage of a tour you don't need distractions and you don't want blokes worrying about their other halves and children.

You want them to be focused on the cricket and their teammates,'' he added.

England lost the first Test in Brisbane by a massive 277 runs but have made a strong start in the second Test at Adelaide. Hughes felt the first couple of matches are the ones in which players build on team spirit but wouldn't be able to do so with their wives and girlfriends accompanying them.

''It is during the early part of a tour that a spirit, a togetherness is created and it is bloody hard to do that if the players are rushing back from practice or a day's play so they can be with their partner who has been waiting in a hotel room for them all day,'' he pointed out.

''It is a shame because I always felt that players learnt a lot from each other while sitting in the dressing-room at the end of a day's play and chatting over a beer,'' he further went on to add.

Speaking of cricket, Hughes said he was not sure about the English coming out good against the World Champions after they were depleted by injury setbacks.

''I have been surprised that people have thought this series would be pretty close because I feel there are big differences between this England side and the one that won the Ashes in 2005,'' he elaborated.

''There is no Michael Vaughan, so you've lost your captain. There is no Simon Jones, who was a key performer last year and, of course, there is no Marcus Trescothick.

I really believe that England are one batsman short ... I think Australia will go on to win three or four nil,'' he predicted.

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