England head coach Brendon McCullum said his team "trained too much" in the build-up to their heavy defeat in the second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday. England’s preparation for the series has been questioned, especially their decision to play three days of intra-squad warm-up cricket at Lilac Hill on a pitch that did not match the conditions at the Perth Stadium. After the first Test ended in two days, England did not send any players to the pink-ball Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra. They had not played a day/night Test since early 2023, and three players in the current XI had never played one before. Among them was wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who dropped an important catch. England instead went to Brisbane and trained for five days, adding two extra practice sessions.

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