Coach Brendon McCullum said England trained “too much” while captain Ben Stokes raised questions about his team’s mentality after their crushing defeat to Australia in the second Test.
Although England showed some fight, they were thrashed by eight wickets in Brisbane and lost 2-0 in the five-match Ashes series.
Their preparation for the much-anticipated contest has been questioned throughout, with England playing just one intra-squad warm-up match before the series and skipping a pink-ball warm-up ahead of the second Test.
“We had five intense training sessions before this game,” McCullum told BBC Test Match Special.
“Sometimes there is a tendency to exaggerate things to compensate.
“If anything, we trained too much.”
He added: “As we all know, this game is played in the top two inches.
“We all have to find a way to ensure that we feel physically and technically prepared and that we are ready for battle, but also to make sure that we are fresh and that we can make those decisions in the heat of the games.”
Stokes led the resistance on the final day by surviving 152 balls for 50 runs, but England lost 4-17 after batsman Will Jacks was dismissed, leaving Australia a 65-run chase in their second innings.
Stokes denied England’s problems were down to skill and instead questioned why they have failed to capitalize at key moments.
“They are all incredibly talented players, but if you can’t put it down to skill, you start to wonder what it is?” Stokes said.
“Do we need to start thinking about what mindset we are adopting in those moments of pressure?
“When we are on top we are great and when we are behind the game we are also very good, but when that moment is very close we don’t come out victorious enough times.”
