England legends Darren Gough and Ian Botham did not hold back after the team’s dismal eight-wicket defeat to Australia in the second Ashes Test at Gabba on Sunday, post which the head coach Brendon McCullum reckoned his side “overprepared” in the lead-up to the clash.
After putting on 334 on board despite Mitchell Starc’s devastating six-fer in the Pink Ball fixture in their first essay, England’s sloppy bowling effort meant Australia hammered a whopping 511 runs, going in excess of four runs per over. Led by Michael Neser’s five-wicket haul in the second essay, Stokes’ men stumbled to 241 all out, with only the skipper offering some resistance with his half-century.
Reflecting on the defeat in a chat with commentators Ricky Ponting and Stuart Broad, McCullum said the team had trained too much after losing the series opener.
“We will have a beer tonight. I think leading into this Test match I actually felt like we overprepared to be honest. We had five intense training days and sometimes when you are in the heat of the battle, the most important thing is to feel a little bit fresh and make sure your top two inches are completely sound. I think the boys just need a few days off and we probably need to change up a few of the training methods,” McCullum said on Sky Sports.
Gough, who had picked up 74 Ashes wickets between 1994 and 2001, offered a riposte to McCullum on X, writing: “Over prepared my a*se.”
All-time Ashes legend Botham chimed in, insisting he’d ask the England cricket board for a refund after the horror show in Brisbane.
“If I was an England supporter and had paid the money to come here, I’d be asking the ECB for a refund. Because this team, for me, is not prepared,” said Botham on Triple M Radio.
The 70-year-old Botham slammed England for giving the preparatory pink-ball game against the Prime Minister’s XI a miss.
“They missed a trick. They could’ve sent the team that was going to play in this Test to Canberra and had some experience with the pink ball. What do we do? ‘No, we don’t need to’. Well I suggest you do need to. You dropped five catches the other day. England could’ve been ahead,” Botham added.
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