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Why McCullum feels England were "over-prepared" for Second Test
Nicholas Quinlan • December 8th, 2025 4:00 am
England coach Brendon McCullum feels that his side was "over-prepared" ahead of the Second Test in Brisbane, which saw them lose by eight wickets on Sunday night.
Having lost the First Test by eight wickets in the space of two days, this would see England and Australia have an 11-day gap between the match at Perth Stadium and the Second Test.
With this break, some in the media voiced the opinion that England should use the scheduled England Lions vs Prime Minister's XI Day/Night match in Canberra to help get players used to the pink ball that they would be playing with in a week's time.
Instead, none of the players selected in the Second Test would feature in that warm-up game, with the Kiwi deciding to have England's first XI do what he describes at some intense training days ahead of the only Day/Night test for the series.
Speaking with Channel 7 after the conclusion of the match, Ricky Ponting would ask the former player, now coach, how he and his team would handle what took place over the last four days to avoid repeating a similar result in the Third Test.
And McCullum said that he would be changing their training approach to try to ensure that his players are as fresh as possible, believing the intense training may have been overboard.
"I felt like we over-prepared, to be honest," he told the broadcaster.
"We had five intense training days. I think sometimes when you’re in the heat of the battle, as we all know, sometimes the most important thing is to feel a little bit fresh and make sure your top two inches is completely sound.
"I think the boys just need a few days off and probably need to change up a few of the training methods."
Looking ahead, McCullum will strive to take that more relaxed approach, having added that the team will head north to Noosa for a couple of days to help plan their way to becoming the first side since Australia in 1936/37 to win the Ashes from 2-nil down.
"We’ve got a couple days in Noosa," he continued.
"So we can spend some time together more casually and let the dust settle on what has been a pretty intense couple of weeks and start to plot and plan our way back into the series.”
The Third Test will begin on December 17 at Adelaide Oval with SEN having LIVE coverage of every ball bowled throughout the five-match series.
