McCullum says England ‘trained too much’ as Stokes questions mentality

Coach Brendon McCullum said England trained “too much” while captain Ben Stokes raised questions about his side’s mentality after their crushing defeat by Australia in the second Test.

Though England showed some fight, they were thrashed by eight wickets in Brisbane to go 2-0 down in the five-match Ashes series.

Their preparation for the highly anticipated contest has been questioned throughout, with England playing only one, intra-squad warm-up match before the series and skipping a pink-ball warm-up before the second Test.

“We had five intense training sessions leading into this game,” McCullum told BBC Test Match Special.

“Sometimes there is a tendency to overdo things to make up for it.

“If anything, we trained too much.”

He added: “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.”

Stokes led the resistance on the final day by surviving 152 balls for 50 runs but England lost 4-17 after batter Will Jacks was dismissed, leaving Australia a chase of 65 runs in their second innings.

Stokes denied England’s problems are down to skill and instead questioned why they have been unable to capitalise in key moments.

“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.

“Do we need to start thinking about what mentality we are taking into those pressure moments?

Stokes described the problems as a “constant theme”.

“When the game is in a moment of neither here nor there, Australia have managed to get through those periods and outdo us,” he said.

Those moments can be traced back to the fifth Test against India in the summer, possibly back to the 2023 Ashes when England blew good positions in the first two Tests and also went 2-0 down.

England’s recent struggles include:

Stokes said he would have conversations with his players and believes they can come from 2-0 behind to win for the first time in an Ashes series.

While saying he did not believe his players were weak, he said: “There is a saying that we have said a lot here – Australia is not for weak men.

“A dressing room that I am captain of is not a place for weak men either.

“We need to dig deep, I need to dig deep.”

McCullum said England, who were also 2-0 down in the 2023 Ashes and came back to draw 2-2, were “slow to adapt” to conditions at the Gabba.

“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,” he said.

“When you come to Australia you can’t be below your best. You need to make sure you seize every opportunity.

“In this Test match there were a few moments we had the ascendancy with the bat and we let that slip. And there were times where we didn’t execute with the ball as well as we should have.