BRISBANE: England’s Ashes preparations — or lack of — have come under renewed fire after they were well beaten in Brisbane on Sunday to leave them staring down the barrel in the series.

Ben Stokes’ men were crushed inside two days by Australia in the opening Test in Perth and fared little better under lights at the Gabba to go 2-0 down.

Pundits and former players feared ahead of the series that the England players had nowhere near the level of preparation required for such a gruelling five-Test assignment away from home.

That criticism came into sharp foc­us anew on Saturday at a roasting-hot Gabba as Australia took the second Test away from a bedraggled England who were outbatted, outfielded and outbowled with the pink ball.

“Nowhere in a million years has preparation been right,” said former England captain and Ashes winner Michael Vaughan, now a prominent pundit. “You have players that are out there that were looking completely shell-shocked against the pink ball because they’re playing with it for the first time.”

Steve Harmison, a former Ashes-winning fast bowler for England, said the bowlers were “rusty” in Brisbane.

“No matter what anyone wants to say from the England camp about preparation... today that’s come home to roost,” he told the talkSPORT Cricket podcast after day two, when Australia forged a 44-run lead in the day-night Test.

England played only one pre-series warm-up match and then, following the eight-wicket defeat in Perth, opted against putting their first-choice players into a pink-ball tour game in Canberra.

Instead, they headed to Brisbane for extra net sessions at the Gabba, a move that was branded “amateurish” and “bizarre” by some pundits.

Fears that England were “undercooked” and heading for trouble as a result was one of the major talking points ahead of the series.

In their bid to win the Ashes in Australia for the first time since 2010-2011, the full squad only assembled in Perth in the second week of November for the first Test starting on November 21.

Some came from a white-ball series in New Zealand, where they crashed 3-0.

Others arrived in dribs and drabs, followed by a three-day friendly against a second-tier England team.

In contrast, almost all of Australia’s Ashes squad had consistently been playing domestic Sheffield Shield matches around the country in the build-up.

England coach Brendon McCullum responded to the criticism by claiming his side “trained too much” after they slumped to another demoralising loss.

“If anything, we trained too much. We had five intense training sessions leading into this game,” McCullum told the BBC. “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.”

BOYCOTT TAKES AIM AT BAZBALL

Former captain Geoffrey Boycott, meanwhile, delivered a savage takedown of England’s high-risk ‘Bazball’ philosophy that has been championed by Stokes and McCullum.

“They are up their own backsides convinced that Test cricket has changed so much that only they know anything about the modern game,” Boycott wrote in The Telegraph.

“One of the problems with this squad is it appears nobody tells them off or sits them down and discusses what they could or should have done differently,” Boycott continued. “All we ever hear from the captain is attack and from the coach keep the faith.”

The Yorkshire great’s criticism cut deeper, targeting the team’s apparent immunity from consequences: “This lot aren’t even afraid of getting dropped which is why we see the same old failings, particularly in the batting.”

History is stacked heavily against the tourists: Only Don Bradman’s legendary 1936-37 Australia side has ever recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win a five-match series.

Former skipper Michael Atherton delivered a brutal assessment of Eng­land’s predicament, saying that optimism was now futile with Australia set to welcome back their key players.

“Although England gave it a good go two years ago, it is difficult to grasp at optimistic straws this time. There are too few players in form, and Australia will be strengthened in Adelaide by the return of Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon,” he wrote in The Times.

“To win test matches in Australia, you have to play tough, hard, disciplined cricket for long periods of time. England haven’t been able to do that. What will haunt them is the sense that they have not given themselves the best chance to do so.”

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2025