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The only side to win an Ashes from a two-nil deficit was the Donald Bradman-led Australians on home soil in 1937\/37, which means England will have to create history in order to reclaim the Urn, but they would need to improve sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a very long way back but yes, records are there to be broken,\u201d Hoggard said. <\/p>\n
\u201cRecords are hard (to set) and that\u2019s why they\u2019ve stood the test of time. So yes, it can be done, but it\u2019s going to take an extraordinary effort and , I would say, a complete rethink of how we go about playing our Test cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus on England\u2019s preparation, or lack thereof, leading into the Ashes has sharpened after dismal displays in both Perth and Adelaide, with the team out-fought and out-thought.<\/p>\n
While Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the series on Tuesday, Australia captain Pat Cummins will play in Adelaide after overcoming a significant back problem.<\/p>\n
But England suffered another significant blow as well with revelations strike bowler Mark Wood suffered a recurrence of a knee injury in Perth and will return home.<\/p>\n
Jofra Archer has also been criticised for the stark variations in pace, with both Lee and Hoggard calling on him to bring the intensity he showed initially in Perth and then in the dying stages at the Gabba consistently rather than sporadically.<\/p>\n
\u2018My arse we\u2019ve f***ing over-prepared!\u2019: England great Matthew Hoggard joins The Follow On Podcast to discuss all the fallout from the second Ashes Test. Listen below<\/p>\n
In an appearance on Fox Cricket\u2019s podcast The Follow On, Hoggard said the opening two Tests had demonstrated just how critical it is for bowlers to be match-hardened.<\/p>\n
While Australians including Mitch Starc, the Man of the Match in both Tests, were hardened through domestic cricket, Hoggard said England\u2019s reliance primarily on net sessions to prepare did not cut it for several reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being fit to play and being match fit. It\u2019s proven over and over and over again that you have to have miles in your legs to be able to perform in a Test match,\u201d Hoggard told The Follow On.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yes, it\u2019s all right saying we\u2019ve had five days of intense practice, but bowlers have been bowling their 40 minute spells in a net, going off for physio, going off for ice baths. They haven\u2019t been standing in the field for the next six hours. They haven\u2019t been chasing the ball. They haven\u2019t had to do the hard yards just being stood up all day. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo when we come to say we didn\u2019t execute our plans as a bowler, and we as a bowling unit, we haven\u2019t executed, is that because we haven\u2019t got the skill? Or are we not fit enough? Or is it just that we\u2019re coming up with the wrong plans? There\u2019s a whole host of questions. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw the intensity that we bowled with on the first day at Perth when we rolled Australia, and then we haven\u2019t seen that intensity since, except for that very short session when you were chasing a very short amount of runs in the last Test match. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see that intensity throughout the Test match. You want to see that from ball one to the end. You want to see the bowlers coming off drained being carried off that pitch, because they put so much time and effort into the game, and we\u2019re just not seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
England’s prep under microscope | 03:56<\/p>\n
Similar to his compatriots, Hoggard\u2019s pre-series optimism<\/a> has turned to despair with his nation\u2019s form so far in the series, with the 67 Test veteran using an iconic Dad\u2019s Army reference to emphasise his disappointment with the preparation and form.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doomed, Captain Mainwaring, doomed. The first time around, there was lots of optimism, lots of, \u2018Yes, we have got a brilliant chance in that Ashes series\u2019, and then two games later – I can\u2019t say Tests because I think games might be a better way of putting it – we are very much behind the eight ball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a whole host of different things that happen in a game that you cannot replicate in practice. That\u2019s been tried and tested over and over and over again. Playing is the best form practice and getting yards (under the belt) and yes, we might have had five intense (nets) but over-prepared? My arse we\u2019ve f***ing over-prepared, pardon my French, but (there is) not a chance in hell have we over-prepared for these Test matches.\u201d<\/p>\n But Lee, in an interview with Fox Cricket on Tuesday, noted that as dispiriting as the scoreline is for England, they needed to seize on the moments where they had been in control. <\/p>\n \u201cI just think that the preparation leading up to the games hasn\u2019t been probably the best it could be for England, but from a positive sense, now I now think England would be better off in Tests three, four and five because they\u2019ve got some mileage in their legs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI want them to flip this around to a positive narrative. I\u2019m expecting England to come back in Adelaide and to have that aggression, to have that discipline. I think through the work they\u2019ve done in the first two Tests, I think England will be better off for the run in terms of miles in their legs for the fast bowlers.\u201d<\/p>\n The England cricket team leaving the Sofitel in Brisbane heading for Noosa. Brydon Carse. Picture: Nigel Hallett.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n If Lee, a prime analyst for Fox Cricket<\/a> during Kayo Sports coverage of the Ashes, was advising his arch-rivals, what he would do is super-impose the Australians bowling map over the top of Englands to highlight what is an effective strategy here.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, I think England now will be in a better position physically to do that because of the work they\u2019ve done in the first two Tests, and secondly, I\u2019ll double down on saying I really hope they get their bowling lines and lengths sorted out,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll they need to do, mate, is go and have a look and compare the pitch maps. Where did Australia bowl the first two Tests? What line and lengths did they bowl? And superimpose that over their own graphic, because you\u2019d be able to see, \u2026 theirs was a bit like paintball, all over the shop with their lines and lengths. So if they can really hone in on that handkerchief mark, that five to six and a half metre length on off stump, that\u2019s what I\u2019d be doing if I was England.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Trained too much’ – McCullum | 00:43<\/p>\n Hoggard, a leading motivational speaker<\/a> who also operates a cooking school and hog roasting business, would stress the importance of looking at Aussie greats if he was looking to spark up England\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n \u201cBrett Lee might have a point. Why can we not hold line and length? Why for intense periods of time, why do we always go back to the short ball?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to the short ball, there\u2019s only one way (to be dismissed) unless we\u2019re bowling for run outs \u2026 but your only one way of getting out is getting caught. How can you take away your main modes of dismissal by saying, \u2018Right then, we\u2019re just going to bowl short again?\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cIs that the captain? Is it the coach? Is it the bowlers? Is it the lack of direction? Is it the lack of ability to say, \u2018Right then, let\u2019s see what Australia has done. Oh, Australia have hit line and length and hit the deck hard and actually run it in and tried to get the ball to move?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I can remember when I was playing and listening to Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, and they were number one and two in the world, or very high up in the rankings, and I said, \u2018What the secret?\u2019 And they just said we run up and hit back of a length hard, and we ran up and hit the top of off stump, and combine that with a little bit of a bouncer every now and again to keep the batsman honest, but we assume it\u2019s not going to move. So the movement off the seam or in the air was a bonus. And that\u2019s all they did, and if you go back through history, all the great fast bowlers and all the seamers, they hit line and length for a long period of time. <\/p>\n