Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, has claimed that his side “trained too much” ahead of their heavy defeat to Australia at The Gabba.
England fell 2-0 behind in the Ashes as the hosts wrapped up an eight-wicket victory in Brisbane despite a battling partnership from Ben Stokes and Will Jacks early on day four.
The damage had long been done, though, with the tourists inferior in all facets as they failed to bounce back from defeat inside two days in Perth.
The nature of their capitulation in the series opener left them with more time between Tests than planned, with McCullum and his staff choosing to bolster England’s training schedule rather than release members of his first-choice side to feature for the England Lions in Canberra.
And despite a poor performance in the second Test, the England boss believes the team were over-trained for the encounter.
“We had five to 10 training sessions leading into this game,” McCullum explained BBC Test Match Special (TMS). “Sometimes there is a tendency to overdo things to make up for it.
“If anything, we trained too much. As we all know in this game, it is played in the top two inches. We all have to find a way that ensures that we feel prepared physically, technically and we are ready for the battle, but also to make sure we are fresh and make sure we can make those decisions in the heat of the games.”
Only one team in Test history has come from 2-0 down to win a five-Test series, a Donald Bradman-led Australia in the 1936/37 Ashes on home soil.
England have failed to win any of their last 17 Tests in Australia, losing 15 and drawing two of those games.
Captain Stokes believes it is fair to question his side’s mentality after the latest defeat.
“They are all incredibly talented players but if you can’t put it down to a skill thing you start to wonder what is it?” Stokes said to TMS.
“Do we need to start thinking about what mentality we are taking into those pressure moments. When we are on top, we are great and when behind the game we are also very good, but when that moment is neck and neck we are not coming out on top on enough occasions.”
The series continues in Adelaide from 17 December.
