Sign In
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: England believe they over-trained before the pink-ball Ashes Test and crashed to an eight-wicket defeat in as they were too drained.
The tourists slumped to another demoralising loss to trail 0-2 in the five-match series, and need to be only the second team in nearly 150 years of Test cricket to overturn the deficit to win a series.
Australia lost only two wickets before reaching their 65-run target at the Gabba on Sunday, with a five-wicket haul from local boy Michael Neser setting up the victory.
It was a familiar heartbreak for England Down Under, where they have lost 15 of their last 17 matches and coach Brendon McCullum blamed over-preparedness for their woes.
Asked if England could have done anything different, McCullum told BBC: "Not from a preparation point of view. If anything, we trained too much. Something as a coach you have to be aware of.
“Sometimes there is a tendency to overdo things to make up for it. As we all know in this game, it is played in the top two inches.
"We all have to find a way to ensure 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."
McCullum admitted they have to adapt to improve in the third Test at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.
"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," he said.
"We weren't at our best. To beat Australia in Australia, you have to be at your best across all three disciplines and we wweren'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."
