“We’ll continue to try and embrace all that Australia has to offer. There is hostility; my wife’s Australian. We’ve still got to enjoy ourselves off the field.”
With England trailing 2-0 in the five-Test series, McCullum again defended the decision to head to Noosa following their second Test defeat, saying the break had been planned for more than a year.
England players take a break from their Ashes preparations at Noosa.Credit: Seven News
He said the tourists remained firmly in the Ashes contest and believed conditions in Adelaide would better suit England’s struggling top order.
McCullum also clarified his remarks that England had been “over-prepared” for the second Test.
“What I meant by us being over-prepared is we had five intense training sessions where, in my opinion, we left ourselves a fraction short in terms of our energy,” McCullum said.
“You need to be mentally fresh, you need to be physically fresh, and five intense training sessions on the back of a difficult loss, I don’t think necessarily gave us our best chance.
‘When all those around you are losing their head, it’s pretty handy to keep yours.’
England coach Brendon McCullum
“I’ll wear that. I’m happy to wear that as leader.
“Noosa was excellent. It was planned a year ago. It was an important period … to allow ourselves to learn some lessons of the last few weeks.
“The fact we’re 2-0 down is we’ve made it harder on ourselves, but it doesn’t stop the belief within the dressing room. I don’t think we’ve been anywhere near our best so far in these two Tests.
“It’s not a matter of fighting the war that’s been, it’s focusing on the one that’s coming … and being a little more calculated when we get the opportunity to be able to put the foot on the throat.”
The heat is on Brendon McCullum and English cricket.Credit: Getty Images
McCullum said he was not fazed about speculation over his future should the series continue to spiral.
“It is what it is, right? We came here with high hopes and high expectations,” McCullum said. “We had a plan that we felt … would give ourselves the best chance of being successful. We haven’t quite executed that so far.
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“From a coach’s point of view … you’re also under that scrutiny as well. That’s something that you need to embrace. When all those around you are losing their head, it’s pretty handy to keep yours. Just because the scrutiny is at its highest and the job’s at its hardest, that’s the stuff you should look forward to. That’s why I’m excited about this week.”
Meanwhile, McCullum said there had been no discussion about promoting captain Ben Stokes to No.3 and indicated England were likely to stick with an unchanged top seven for a match where Australia will bring Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon back into their XI.
“We’ve had a top seven now for a period of time and we’ve been reasonably successful with it,” McCullum said. “These conditions should suit the style of batters that we’ve got as well.
“Chopping and changing settled batting line-ups is not really our way.”
