Head coach Brendan McCullum admitted England may have made mistakes in their Ashes preparations after Adelaide confirmed their series defeat.
Despite some resistance from the tourists, Australia registered an 82-run victory on day five of the third Test to seal the title early on.
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England suffered dismal defeats in their first two Tests and their preparations – which included playing just one warm-up match against the England Lions development squad before the series – were widely questioned throughout.
“I’m very disappointed when you lose a game and I’m sure a lot of questions will be asked, and rightfully so,” McCallum told the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“We didn’t do everything right. As a coach, I didn’t do everything right and I put my hand up for that.”
With the defeat, the futures of McCullum, captain Ben Stokes and general manager Rob Key will all be in question.
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In arranging the match against the Lions, England replicated their preparations for other tours under the system, including games in India and Pakistan last year, but opted not to conduct warm-up matches.
McCallum’s comments changed a hierarchy that usually stands firmly behind its own decisions.
“I’m very strong in our belief and our preparation and, you know, for us it’s a matter of trying to replicate what we’ve done in the series that has been successful for us on the road,” McCallum said.
“Maybe we didn’t get it right, and I’ll admit that.”
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He added: “Ultimately, you are responsible for how you prepare your team and how you prepare.
“We were 3-0 down, so you might say there’s room for change here.
“As a coach, again you throw your hands up and say you probably didn’t do it right.
“At the same time, I feel like this is going to give us the best chance because it’s been there before. Sitting here 3-0 and it’s not working.”
Brendan McCullum has been England Test coach since the start of the home summer in 2022 [Getty Images]
After losing the first Test in Perth two days later, England also decided not to send their first XI to Canberra for a pink-ball practice session ahead of the day-night second Test, instead scheduling extra training at the Gabba.
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McCallum said reducing training time would be more beneficial.
“We had five days of intense training before going into Brisbane and we knew it was going to be hot,” he said. “You look back at some things.
“As a coach, your job is to try to perform well on the field. I believed we did that right, but obviously we didn’t.”
Assessing the series, McCullum also said England’s bowlers were unable to keep the ball “with precision” and their batsmen failed to “score runs”. He also praised Australia for being “as precise as a team I’ve seen in the last few years”.
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He said there were times when England were “so determined” and the expectations for this series were “so high” that they “almost limited us”.
A relaxed environment has been a hallmark of the McCallum-Stokes regime, as has an aggressive attitude with bat and ball.
“The past two days [in Adelaide] This is our best cricket and that’s because of the games we’ve just played,” he said.
“When you’re under a lot of pressure, your decision-making sometimes gets a little blurry and you don’t know whether to hold on or turn around.
“That’s probably the disappointing aspect because I do think when we were here we had a firm belief in the style we were going to play and knew we were going to be challenged.
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“But I do think we’re in a bit of a bind, and again as a coach I’m going to put my hands up and say, ‘No matter what happens in this series, this is the way we need to play’ because that’s going to give us the best chance.”
