Brendon McCullum admits England’s Ashes preparation ‘didn’t work’

Head coach Brendon McCullum has admitted for the first time that mistakes in England’s Ashes preparations played a part in his side’s downfall Down Under.

A team that travelled with wind in its sails and lofty expectations has been brutally brought to heel by Australia, who have secured the urn again with a hat-trick of thumping wins in Perth, Brisbane and now Adelaide.

England finally took a Test match into the fifth day in South Australia, making a spirited attempt to hunt down a world record target of 435 but ultimately falling 82 short.

It has been a chastening experience for a team side whose buccaneering ‘Bazball’ stylings have gradually been worn down by the relentless class of their opponents.

They have been criticised for taking the build-up period too lightly – be it a solitary warm-up against the England Lions on a slow pitch, their refusal to take up a day-night practice match before the floodlit second Test or their mid-series beach break to Noosa – with a string of former England captains among those to have their say.

Having previously deflected that scrutiny, notably saying his side had “overprepared” for the second Test, McCullum changed his tune and accepted his share of the blame.

“You look back on some things as a coach, of course you do, and ultimately you are responsible for how you get your side ready and how you prepare them,” he said.

“I had conviction, we had conviction, in our methods – 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 you look back on over time and say would I do it differently? Retrospectively, we’ve 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 time I felt it would give us our best chance because it has previously. But sitting here 3-0, it didn’t work.”

Skipper Ben Stokes, who had spoken on the eve of the series about his dreams of becoming an Ashes winning captain, has been stung by events of recent weeks.

He has taken on a sizeable workload, issued repeated rallying cries to see more from his side and eventually come up empty handed. But, with two games still to play, he vowed to keep going to the well.

“It’s hurts and it sucks. It’s very disappointing knowing that we can’t achieve what we set out to do here,” he said.

“It’s a pretty emotional time for me in the dressing room and for the guys, players, management, backroom stuff. I hate living in hindsight because you can never change what you have done… it’s what you do out there that counts and we’ve not been able to stand up to what Australia have thrown at us.

“We’ve not been able to stand up to the barrage of execution from Australia. But we still have two games left in the series and a hell of a lot to play for, as individuals and as a team.

“We’re not going to turn around and kick the stumps over because we have so much more to play for.”

At 34 years old and with serious wear and tear on his body, Stokes is highly unlikely to be around when England next visit these parts in four years. But he is centrally contracted for the next 18 months meaning one last chance to reclaim the Ashes urn for his country on home soil in 2027.

Asked if he had the energy and desire to continue leading the team, he offered one word: “Absolutely.”