England’s head coach Brendon McCullum finally opined on the defeat after Australia won the third Ashes Test by 82 runs and took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series as well. Following another poor Ashes Down Under, the coach admitted that they didn’t prepare well, adding that there was room for change as well.

Following the defeat, McCullum said (via BBC Sport): “It is disappointing when you lose, and I’m sure there will be plenty of questions asked, and rightfully so. We haven’t got everything right. I haven’t got everything right as a coach, and I put my hand up for that. I have been very strong about the conviction we had and our preparation, and, you know, for us, it was a matter of trying to replicate what we have done in series that have been successful for us away from home. Maybe we didn’t get that right, and I’ll acknowledge that.”

“Ultimately, you are responsible for how you get your side ready and how you prepare them. We are 3-0 down, so you would probably say there was room for change there. Again, you put your hand up as a coach and say you might not have gotten that right. At the same time, I felt it would give us our best chance because it has previously. Sitting here 3-0, it didn’t work,” he further added.

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“The five intense training days leading into Brisbane, when we knew it was going to be hot. A few things you look at retrospectively. Your job as a coach is to try to get performance on the field. I was confident we had it right, but obviously we didn’t. The last two days [in Adelaide] have been our best cricket, and that is because we have just played,” he shared.

However, Brendon McCullum also stated that England were under huge pressure in the Ashes, especially after losing the first two games, which also affected their decision-making. He further added that the team lacked clarity and got stuck as well.

“When you’re put under immense pressure, your decision-making can become a little blurred at times, and you don’t know whether to stick or twist. That’s probably the disappointing aspect because I did think we were rock hard in our belief of the style we were going to play when we were down here, knowing we were going to be challenged. But I do think we got a little bit stuck and, again, I’ll put my hand up as coach and say there should have been that absolute clarity of ‘whatever happens in this series, this is how we need to play’ because that is going to give us our best chance,” he concluded.