Former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes that England have not played enough long-format cricket in the lead-up to the Ashes 2025-26, which has hampered their preparation.
Clarke said that England might have had good net practice, but that it is not enough.
“When you’re dropping catches, that’s concentration,” he said in a conversation with Code Sports. “Heavy legs on the bowlers, bowling your second or third spell, that’s time on your feet in the field. So yes, England might have hit enough balls in the nets and bowled enough balls, but for me, they hadn’t played enough long-format cricket leading into this series, and that’s why I think their preparation has been questioned.”
Despite taking a lead of forty runs in the first innings, England were defeated by Australia by eight wickets in the first Test in Perth, which finished in two days. England did not send their first-choice players to the warm-up match against Australia’s Prime Ministers XI at Manuka Oval in Canberra ahead of the second Test. Australia then thrashed England by eight wickets at the Gabba in Brisbane.
A few days ago, Brendon McCullum cited excessive training as one of the reasons behind the loss in the second Test.
“Not from a preparation point of view. If anything, we’ve probably trained too much, to be honest,” the England head coach said on the BBC’s Test Match Special. “We’ve had five intense training sessions leading into this game, and that’s something, as a coach, you’ve got to be aware of. I think sometimes there’s a tendency to want to overdo things to try and make up for it. But as we all know in this game, it’s about playing the top two inches.”
Reacting to that statement, Clarke said:
“I think what Brendon probably meant was that we overtrained. I don’t think you can ever over-prepare, especially when you’re chasing success.”
Australia and England will lock horns in the third Ashes Test, which will be played at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.
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