If anything, England trained too much, says McCullum on defeat in Brisbane

Brisbane: 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.

 “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. IANS

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