Brisbane, Dec 7 (IANS) England head coach Brendon McCullum said his side had over‑trained ahead of their heavy eight-wicket defeat to Australia in their second Ashes Test at the Gabba. Despite a defiant 96-run seventh wicket stand from Ben Stokes and Will Jacks on day four, England were outplayed across departments and are now 2-0 behind.

[5:12 pm, 7/12/2025] Niharika Ians: “We had five to 10 training sessions leading into this game. 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,” said McCullum to BBC Test Match Special at the conclusion of the game.

He also felt England have to be at their best in all aspects to get the better of Australia at home in their remaining three Ashes games in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. “Disappointing to go 2-0 down. In a five-match series it makes things pretty tough. We have been here before and we have to make sure to stay tight as a group and iron out a couple of the chinks that we have shown in the last two Test matches.”

“When you come to Australia you can’t be below your best. You need to make sure you seize every opportunity. A few moments in this Test match that there was times we had ascendancy with the bat and we let that slip.”

“Times where we didn’t execute with the ball as well as we should have. Clearly our catching was an issue as well. Very hard to beat Australia at home if your going to be deficient in all those three areas,” he elaborated.

McCullum further thought that England didn’t adapt well to the conditions on offer in the day-night Test in Brisbane. “We have got some work to do. We have some time. We have been here before and there is no point feeling sorry for yourself. You pick yourself up and you go again.”

“We weren’t at our best and to beat Australia in Australia you have to be at your best across all three disciplines and we weren’t – that is brutal honesty and we will wear that. From our point of view, we know we have to be better. We have to be a lot quicker to adapt to the conditions in Adelaide.”

“I thought we were a bit slow to adapt to the conditions here. Second innings, the length they bowled and the adjustment they made and they put us under a lot of pressure. Some positives in it as well when you lose, you try grasp onto those positives and you try iron out those negative.”

“We have time and we make sure we don’t lose heart. We have an opportunity to bounce back and a chance in nine days time to put our hands up and be better than what we were in this one,” he concluded.

–IANS

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