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NEW DELHI: Brendon McCullum has pointed out what he sees as England’s main issue after two straight eight wicket losses to Australia in the Ashes. He believes the squad has been pushing too hard in training and needs time to recover.

With England needing to win all three remaining tests to reclaim the old urn the head coach wants his players to step back and refresh at one of Australia’s leading beach resorts.

Also READ: England collapse despite Ben Stokes’ resistance as Australia take 2-0 lead in Brisbane

Overprepared before the Brisbane test

Speaking to Australian and British broadcasters McCullum said the harsh conditions and heavy workload left the group drained. He felt the team did too much before the day night test in Brisbane.

“Leading into this test match I felt like we overprepared to be honest” he told Australia’s 7 network after the eight wicket loss at the Gabba.

“We had five intense training days and I think sometimes when you’re in the heat of the battle sometimes the most important thing is to feel a little bit fresh and make sure your headspace is completely sound.

“I think the boys just need a few days off. Need to change up the training methods a little bit. We’ll let the dust settle on what has been a pretty intense last couple of weeks and start to plot and plan our way back into the series.”

Mistakes and missed chances hurting England

Across the first two tests England has let strong positions slip with loose bowling and poor shot choices from batters trying to score too quickly. The team has also dropped several key catches.

The coaching setup has been questioned for holding only one warm up match. Former players say England must adjust their approach instead of sticking to attack first cricket regardless of conditions.

“The message from the captain the message from myself You can’t come to this country and start sulking and feeling sorry for yourself if things haven’t worked out” McCullum said.

“You can’t have a glass jaw when you tour Australia. You’ve got to stand up and you’ve got to go again. You’ve got to wear a few on the way in and you’ve got to head toward the target.”

Stokes shows fight with defiant fifty

England has not won an Ashes test in Australia since 2010 11 and both McCullum and Ben Stokes are determined to end that run.

Stokes fought hard on Sunday with a determined half century and a 96 run stand with Will Jacks using a more traditional test style that held up Australia for a while.

“When you know it’s not down to skill you’ve probably got to dig a little deeper and find out what the thing is that we seem to keep doing in those big moments in the game” Stokes said. “It just seems to be a constant theme at the moment that when the game is in a pressure moment Australia keep outdoing us in those moments.”

“They say Australia isn’t a place for weak men we’re definitely not weak but we need to find something because we’re 2 0 down and we’ve got three games to go” Stokes said.

“We’re not going to shy away from the battle that we’ve got in front of us but we do need to look at where things have gone wrong in these first two games and sort them out pretty quick if we want to get these Ashes back to England.”

(With AP Inputs)