Merv Hughes says England's 'extravagant' Ashes menu worth more to them than 'runs and wickets'

Former Australian Test great Merv Hughes has slammed England's extravagant catering demands for their Ashes tour, saying that the dietary requirements of today's players are almost worth more than the players taking wickets and making runs.

England has issued a 92-page list of almost 200 recipes and requirements, including instructions on how to prepare dishes such as 'quinoa and cranberry breakfast bar' and 'butternut squash and falafel coronation'.

According to The Age, however, Hughes said that he would choose a simple ham and pickle sandwich over the extravagant demands issued by England team's performance nutritionist and added that players need to concentrate on their playing more instead of wasting their time on their dietary requirements.

Hughes further said that nowadays a team needs to have a different dietitian, a fitness adviser and a physiotherapist who all have to justify their position and thereby 'make a splash', adding that in his time, all three of these functions was rolled into one single individual.

Warning that the England team would have a lot of their new dietary 'crap' left over, Hughes also said that if he was fed a plate of 'piri-piri breaded tofu with tomato salsa', he would 'dry reach' for the next three days.

Hughes further said that England's menu is a far cry from what was on offer during his time in the national team in the 1980s and 90s, which generally included a cold meat and salad, roast of the day and a choice of fish and chicken, adding that their physiotherapist would request food they wanted to eat, and got rid of the 'rubbish'.