Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has provided a theory on Brendon McCullum’s choice of words after the visitors’ loss in the second Ashes Test.
England coach McCullum said his side “overprepared” if anything ahead of the second Test in Adelaide, which they lost to go down 2-0 in the series.
Prior believes McCullum’s eye-raising comments were a ploy to shift the agenda away from the poor form of several struggling players.
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“It’s a bit of a (Jose) Mourinho move where he comes out with something that is going to grab headlines, everyone is going to talk about it and we’re not going to talk about Pope, Crawley, Duckett and all the players, which I think is a pretty good move,” Prior said on BBC.
“I also think it was him saying ‘I’m not going to be bullied by the press and not care what the headlines are’.”
After going down 2-0, the England side spent several days in Noosa – a move which received its fair share of criticism given the state of the series.
However, Prior doesn’t see any issues with the visitors’ few days of R’n’R, believing it can be just what a struggling team needs.
Prior pointed to England’s 5-0 series loss in the 2013-2014 Ashes tour which he was a part of.
“Preparation for each individual test match is 48-72 hours before that match. When you lose, sometimes you can feel the pressure because the press and fans are saying you should be in the nets, you shouldn’t be in a restaurant, you shouldn’t eat, you shouldn’t smile, you shouldn’t do anything other than train,” Prior said.
“We lost in 5-0 in 2013-2014 and one of the mistakes we made was that we had curfews in place, we were talking about drinking cultures, Jonathan Trott was in the nets facing 100mph balls from the bowling machine trying to simulate Mitch Johnson and you stop enjoying it.
“You literally hated being in Australia. The press and public are all over you and you’re just drilling yourself all day.
“I spoke to most of my old teammates and you know what, we should have gone and played golf or gone to Noosa and sat on the beach because getting away and being able to refresh and start again I believe is the best thing that team could’ve done and we went further and further into a hole.”
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HAZLEWOOD’S CALL ON PLAYING FUTURE
Injured fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has shot down any suggestions his latest setback could force him to hang up the whites.
Hazlewood will miss the entire Ashes series due to hamstring and achilles injuries.
While the 34-year-old has had several injury concerns in recent years, Hazlewood did get through the majority of a busy 2025 campaign, representing Australia in all three formats.
Hazlewood wants to continue to play both red ball and white ball cricket going forward, believing he has plenty still to offer on the international stage.
“My body still feels as strong as ever. It’s just little things here and there that creep in. I’m still determined to play three formats as best I can,” Hazlewood told Code Sports.
“You’re still going to miss the odd game here and there, no one can do it all, unless you’re a batter, but I still enjoy all the different demands of the three formats.
“It keeps it fresh getting ready and preparing for each different format.
“I probably say this most years but I just played for pretty much 12 months straight not really missing many games of cricket at all, then you get a four-or-five-week injury at exactly the wrong time.
“If you are only missing six weeks of the year and you’re playing the other 10 or 11 months, then it’s probably a successful season, but it’s just about the timing of the games you’re missing I guess.”
While Hazlewood won’t feature across the final three Tests against England, Australia will receive a massive boost with captain and opening quick Pat Cummins returning for the Adelaide Test which starts this Wednesday.
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