England coach Brendon McCullum has made the bizarre claim that England overprepared for the second Ashes Test after another eight-wicket drubbing.
The tourists were soundly beaten for the second contest in a row and, after just six days of actual cricket, find themselves needing to break nearly 100 years of history to rescue themselves from being 2-0 down.
However, the man behind England’s Bazball revolution, former New Zealand champion McCullum, had a unique take on his side’s woes.
“Leading into this Test match, I actually feel like we overprepared to be honest,” he told Channel 7 post-match.
“We had five intense training days. I think sometimes when you’re in the heat of the battle, as we all know, sometimes the most important thing is to feel a little bit fresh and make sure your top two inches is completely sound.
“I think we’ll probably have a beer tonight. The boys just need a few days off and probably change up a few of the training methods.”
There was an 11-day gap between the first Test in Perth and the second at the Gabba after England were demolished inside of two days.
However, the team has faced constant criticism for their lack of preparation, including spending extra days in Western Australia golfing or sightseeing before declining the opportunity to play a practice pink-ball game in Canberra.
McCullum was more blunt when asked what went wrong on day two when his side failed to fire with the ball and allowed the home side to score at nearly five an over for an entire day to wipe out their first innings total and take a 177-run advantage into the second innings that ultimately led them to victory.
“We were trying too hard, is my assessment of it to be honest,” he said.
“We identified we had a reasonable score with the bat in the first innings, and it was quite a pivotal moment in the game to strike. Sometimes, when you do try too hard, you miss your execution, and you tighten up.
“We were honest with ourselves. We bowled terribly in that period. And then in the last session of that day, we obviously dropped a number of catches, and that’s the time when the hard work we put in during session two was going to repay us.
“So when you put down catches against Australia, it’s hard enough taking 10 wickets against a good side like that, let alone needing to take 15.
“So, there were areas with the bat we were deficient, there were areas with the ball we were deficient, and there were areas in the field we were deficient, and they are all areas we need to tidy up in the next nine days.”
