A failure to stick with their convictions let Australia off the hook in Adelaide with Brendon McCullum conceding his team failed to handle the pressure
Australia 'surprised' at Bazball retreat as McCullum takes rap
England coach Brendon McCullum concedes he got his side's preparation for the Ashes wrong, while Pat Cummins expressed his surprise at how Bazball lost its bite during the third NRMA Insurance Test.
McCullum labelled Australia as "formidable" opponents whose bowlers have stepped up to a level beyond what he had previously seen after England fell to their third straight defeat in the series.
But the architect of an England's Test resurgence based on an aggressive method showing increasing signs of being unsustainable has ruled out any squad additions for the final two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.
England played a solitary three-day intra-squad warm-up match at a club ground in Lilac Hill before this series, following the end of their home summer in mid-year. There have been murmurs they would have preferred to get access to the WACA Ground as India did last summer before going on to beat Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener at Perth Stadium, but Cricket Australia had already scheduled Sheffield Shield matches at the venue.
McCullum has also previously suggested he pushed his charges too hard leading into the second Test in Brisbane, but again defended the decision not to send any of his frontliners to play a pink-ball match against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra ahead of the Gabba's day-night Test.
"Probably go back to the preparation as well, that'll be something that gets questioned and when you've lost 3-0, you need to put your hand up and say, 'Maybe I didn't get that preparation right'," McCullum told UK broadcaster TNT Sports.
"It's not just leading into the first game. It's could we have done more leading into game one and could we have done less leading into game two? Work out those things and you're responsible for that.
"I didn't get that right because we lost 3-0."
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Captain Ben Stokes described Australia's ruthlessness as a "barrage of execution" as the difficulty of replicating the attacking batting approach that has worked on their home pitches has been laid bare.
With the bat, England have been forced into defending or leaving a third (33 per cent according to Opta) of the deliveries they have faced in this series, six per centage points up on their mark of 27 per cent during their most recent home campaign against India.
Australia, who have long advocated for a more versatile, conditions-based approach to Test cricket, have defended or left 29 per cent of balls in this series.
But Stokes wants England to persist with a style that encourages freedom. There is little choice; there is no scope for wholesale change given Jacob Bethell is the only back-up batter on tour.
"(We're) making sure that we aren't restricting people's mindset towards how they best feel that they're going to be successful for the team," Stokes said.
"You never want to take away their ability to go out and score their runs in the way that they feel is best going to suit them.
"But then, marrying the skills and the ability that they have with the mentality that it takes to be successful as an international sportsman.
"You put those two together and I know that we've got a very, very exciting Test team who can be even more successful than we have been over the last four years."
England have however clearly gone into their shells at stages with the bat after copping criticism for failing to pass 200 in either innings of the first Test.
Cummins suggested his opponents had played into Australia's hands when they lumbered along at around three runs an over when they batted on the hottest day of the series.
They managed just 286 in their first innings, which Stokes conceded was short of a good score.
"They seem to have changed their style quite a bit, game to game," said Cummins. "I think that can happen in overseas conditions. You're always trying to fight for a method that works.
"Day two, I thought was surprising. It was 40-odd degrees, it was hot, it was very flat wicket and they shut up shop there for half the day, which I was pretty happy with.
"So who knows? I'm sure they'll talk about it and come at us with different plans for Melbourne and Sydney. I'm glad that we've been able to stick to our guns and play the way that we play best, and it's worked."
The McCullum-led revolution delivered England 14 wins from his first 19 matches through his first 18 months in charge after he took the job in 2022.
Since the start of the 2023 Ashes, his side have however essentially become a fifty-fifty proposition, winning as many as Tests as they have lost.
The record is even worse over their past 16 Tests, winning just six times.
"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," said McCullum.
"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.
"We've set the team up with the skillset of the players and the personalities, we've set the environment up like that. Maybe we didn't get it right in the last stages leading into those games.
"There is an immense amount of talent in that dressing room, some very good characters and steely belief to try and achieve. But we've fallen short in this series."
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue