The Ashes: Former Australian captain Kim Hughes blames England's preparation after latest injury blow

A former Australian Test captain has slammed England’s preparation for the Ashes and says it is the reason they have had to rule out three frontline pace bowlers.

The tourists copped yet another blow on the tour, with Gus Atkinson now ruled out of the final Test of the series in Sydney starting Sunday.

The quick limped off the MCG on the second day of the rapid-fire Boxing Day Test with an apparent hamstring issue and scan results on Tuesday confirmed he will not be fit to play at the SCG.

England had spruiked a fearsome pace attack they believed would blast Australia out in their own conditions.

But of the four seamers who started the summer, only Brydon Carse remains.

Injury-prone quick Mark Wood lasted just one Test and Jofra Archer played the first three but was ruled out with a side strain once the series was dead.

West Australian legend Kim Hughes said England’s poor preparation — where they played just one practice match against themselves at Lilac Hill in Perth and snubbed a pink-ball game against the Prime Minister’s XI — was to blame for the injury scourge.

“What’s coming back to haunt them is their poor preparation,” he told The West Australian.

“They used to play three first-class games before the Test. Here, they played three days of social cricket.

“And they wonder why Wood’s gone, Archer’s gone — and Archer had started to come good —and now Atkinson’s gone as well. God Almighty.”

In an interview with The West earlier in the summer, Hughes said England’s pace attack looked as fearsome as any to play against Australia since the great West Indies sides he used to face, but that they were held back by their lack of match fitness.

England has not named a replacement for Atkinson in the squad for the final match of the summer, with Matthew Potts the likely replacement to join Carse and Boxing Day best-on-ground Josh Tongue in the side.

Matthew Fisher is the only other option in the England squad, he was added to the group after Wood was ruled out.

Atkinson’s tour ends with six wickets at 47.33, with the brief highlights being the fourth-innings dismissals of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne in Brisbane.

He was considered unlucky to be axed for them to recall Tongue in the Adelaide Test.

Tongue is now expected to take the new ball with Carse in Sydney, while England will also turn to reliable skipper Ben Stokes and are likely to stick with spinning all-rounder Will Jacks.