McCullum: 'Maybe I didn't get Ashes preparation right'

Brendon McCullum, England's head coach, has accepted that his team's preparations for the Ashes will come under justified scrutiny, after they surrendered the series in just 11 days of action, and with two Tests still to come.

Speaking to TNT Sports after Australia had claimed an unassailable 3-0 lead with an 82-run win in Adelaide, McCullum acknowledged that their opponents had "outplayed us with the bat, outplayed us with the ball, and outplayed us in the field", and described their overall team performance as the most "precise", "formidable" and "consistent" that he had seen from an Australian team in many a year.

None of those words are applicable to England's efforts, however, despite a battling display in adversity on the final live day of the series. Needing a Test-record chase of 435 to keep the series alive, England recovered from a nadir of 194 for 6 to reach 352, which was not only their highest total of the campaign, but their highest in Australia since the Boxing Day Test in 2017.

"We're obviously disappointed," McCullum said. "We came here with high hopes, high ambitions and lofty goals, and we've been outplayed across three Test matches. You've got to cop it sweet when you don't quite achieve what you're hoping to.

"We knew coming down here that Australia is a very strong team in their own conditions," he later added. "We thought we would be competitive, and that we would be able to seize some pressure moments, and we haven't been able to do it. With the ball, we've not quite been relentless enough with our accuracy and challenging on the surface in the areas we need to. With the bat we haven't scored enough runs, we haven't quite found the tempo we need to operate at either. And in the field we have let opportunities go."

England's gutsy batting display on the final day at Adelaide followed a spirited fightback with the ball on the fourth morning, in which Australia lost their last six wickets for 38 runs. It left McCullum ruing the fact that England had found their best form with the series already out of sight, and he acknowledged that the focus in the series post-mortem was likely to fall on their preparations for the opening two Tests in particular.

England's sole warm-up match took place on a slow wicket at Lilac Hill in Perth that offered little insight into the conditions that awaited on a faster, bouncier surface at the Optus Stadium. Then, after opting out of a detour to Canberra to play in a pink-ball practice match against the Prime Minister's XI, England went into the second Test at the Gabba after five days of intensive training that led McCullum to claim, infamously, that England had "over-prepared" ahead of their second eight-wicket loss of the series.

"I know that that'll be something that's questioned," McCullum said. "When you've lost 3-0, you've got to put your hand up and say, 'maybe I didn't get that preparation right'.

"Ultimately you are responsible for how you get your side ready and how you prepare them. I had conviction, we had conviction in our methods in terms of preparation, not just leading into the first Test but also in between Tests. I look back now and think, did we need more leading into the first and did we need less leading into the second? They are the changes over time you look back on and say would I do it differently?

"Retrospectively, we lost 3-0 so you would probably say there was room for change there. Again, you put your hand up as a coach and say you might not have got that right. At the same time I felt it would give us our best chance because it has previously. Sitting here 3-0, it didn't work."

England's display in Adelaide remained deeply flawed, with none of England's batters making a century despite nine scores of 30 or more across their two innings. However, McCullum was encouraged that a team that had been outplayed in every key moment of the series to date had finally shown glimpses of the character that ought to have been central to their performances throughout the series.

"I do feel like the last day-and-a-half, two days, we've probably played our best cricket, and that's because we've just played," he said. "I feel like, for the previous nine days, we were so caught up and so driven to achieve something, and succeed, that we almost got in our own way, and we stymied our talent and our skill and our ability.

"It's only been the last two days that we've let go and just played, and actually competed, and probably had our best two days of the tour.

"So there's a lesson in that, and not just for the players. There's a lesson for the coach, and the coaching staff as well. How do you free guys up when the pressure is at its highest, rather than having to wait to these last two days?"

McCullum insisted that England had not been taken by surprise by the extent of the media scrutiny on this Ashes series, which has included relentless headlines in the local papers and intense off-field attention, including during their mid-tour break in Noosa last week. However, he accepted that his players had been "constrained" by the heightened pressure of the campaign.

"I don't think it's caught us by surprise, I think we anticipated it," he said. "But there's ways that you can deal with it. You can try and block it out, or just lean into it, accept it, and see it as a privilege that you're in a position to be able to try and entertain, and to be able to capture eyeballs and to do people proud.

"I think we were so determined to do that, we've had such high expectations and hopes for this series that it almost just constrained us a little bit, so we weren't able to deal with it again. That's something we're going to have to look at and say, 'what did we get right? What did we get wrong?'"

Aside from Joe Root and Ben Stokes, whose careers span four Ashes tours dating back to 2013-14, England's tour party has been notably short of experience. Mark Wood's series-ending injury means that none of the remaining specialist bowlers had played a Test in Australia prior to this trip.

"You knew that, man for man, experience wise, [Australia] were going to have you," McCullum said. "You're hoping that your youth and enthusiasm might be able to line up with that. But they've been outstanding. When you're put under immense pressure, your decision-making can become a little blurred at times, and you don't know whether to stick or twist.

"I guess that's the disappointing aspect. I did think we were rock-hard in our belief of the style that we're going to play when we came down here. We knew we would be challenged, but I do think we probably got a little bit stuck.

"Again, I put my hand up as coach, because there should have been that absolute clarity. Whatever happens in the series, this is how we need to play, because that is going to give us our best chance. That's how we've set the team up, with the skills for the players and personalities, and set the environment up like that."

England must now regroup ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, where McCullum insists there is still plenty of pride to play for, especially considering that England have not won so much as a Test in Australia since their triumphant tour of 2010-11, 18 matches ago.

"We do have a great opportunity in the next two Tests," he said. "That's the message to the boys, right? We need to find something out of this tour. We need to salvage some pride and play for all the people that have come down to Australia and supported this team, and play for all the people back home in England, supporting this team as well. If we can do that, then we walk away with a bit of pride.

Asked if England believed they could win in Melbourne, McCullum said it would only be possible if they free themselves up "to play".

"If we allow the expectation and the pressure … and think, we've lost 3-0, crikey we're going to go down 4-0… then no. But if we get into that state where we just play the game, and just immerse yourself in what needs to be done, and allow your talents come out under pressure situations, then you've got every opportunity.

"So that'll be the message over next few days. In our own way, we'll deal with the defeat and the disappointment, but we know we've got an opportunity in the next couple to get something out."