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Brendon McCullum has insisted that England have the quality and character to pick themselves off the canvas and fight their way back into the Ashes contest, and refused to accept the idea of players feeling sorry for themselves after starting the series with two savage defeats. “You come to this country and have a glass jaw, you have no chance,” he said. “You have to be strong, tough, and you have to get on with it.”
England travel to Noosa on Tuesday for a short break before moving to Adelaide to begin their preparations for the third Test, 2-0 down for the third Ashes series in succession. In 2020-21 Australia converted that lead into a 4-0 series win, but in 2023 England fought back to draw 2-2.
“We’ll draw on a couple of years ago,” said the head coach. “We’ve been here before, 2-0 down, and we came within a bee’s dick of getting ourselves the win, so there’s no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. That ends in all sorts of trouble. Just pick yourselves off, dust yourselves off, sharpen off a few of the rough areas and keep heading towards the target.”
McCullum doubled down on his assertion, first made on Sunday after Australia wrapped up victory in the second Test by eight wickets, that England’s players were overworked ahead of that match. “There is no perfect preparation,” he said. “Five days of training leading into this game was two more than Australia had and they were a lot fresher and sharper than we were. Sometimes you’ve got to make decisions based on your logic, your experience as a coach and how you’re assessing the health of the army.
“I firmly believe training five days straight in sapping conditions isn’t the answer. We need to keep a little bit in the tank physically [and] a little bit in the tank emotionally. We have three days of training when we get to Adelaide, which is more than enough.”
The New Zealander defended the decision to head to Noosa, a beach resort two hours’ drive north of Brisbane, for a mini-break that has been the subject of sharp criticism by fans and former players. “If anything our boys need to freshen up,” he said. “A few days away wouldn’t be the worst thing.”
The break will give McCullum and his coaching team time to reflect on the first two matches and on how they can inspire an improvement in the remainder of the series. “We need to let the dust settle on this one,” he said. “Just as all the players will do, us as coaches will have a good think about what has worked OK over the last few weeks and what needs to be done in the next nine days to recalibrate us and head towards a better performance than what we’ve shown so far.
“One thing we won’t be changing is the language in the dressing room, the way we approach the game and the style we’ve tried to operate with. Yes, there are times when we can absorb pressure, times when we can be more accurate with the ball as well, and a bit more razor-sharp in the field.
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“Ultimately you can’t afford to flinch when you come down here. This is not a country to start doubting yourself or to walk away from a challenge. You don’t get to feel sorry for yourself if things don’t work out.”
