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<\/p>\nFormer England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has provided a theory on Brendon McCullum\u2019s choice of words after the visitors\u2019 loss in the second Ashes Test.<\/p>\n
England coach McCullum said his side \u201coverprepared\u201d if anything ahead of the second Test in Adelaide, which they lost to go down 2-0 in the series.<\/p>\n
Prior believes McCullum\u2019s eye-raising comments were a ploy to shift the agenda away from the poor form of several struggling players. <\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019re not going to talk about Pope, Crawley, Duckett and all the players, which I think is a pretty good move,\u201d Prior said on BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also think it was him saying \u2018I\u2019m not going to be bullied by the press and not care what the headlines are\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
After going down 2-0, the England side spent several days in Noosa \u2013 a move which received its fair share of criticism given the state of the series. <\/p>\n
However, Prior doesn\u2019t see any issues with the visitors\u2019 few days of R\u2019n\u2019R, believing it can be just what a struggling team needs.<\/p>\n
Prior pointed to England\u2019s 5-0 series loss in the 2013-2014 Ashes tour which he was a part of.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreparation 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\u2019t be in a restaurant, you shouldn\u2019t eat, you shouldn\u2019t smile, you shouldn\u2019t do anything other than train,\u201d Prior said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou literally hated being in Australia. The press and public are all over you and you\u2019re just drilling yourself all day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019ve done and we went further and further into a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beardman embracing the need for speed! | 01:52<\/p>\n
HAZLEWOOD\u2019S CALL ON PLAYING FUTURE<\/p>\n
Injured fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has shot down any suggestions his latest setback could force him to hang up the whites.<\/p>\n
Hazlewood will miss the entire Ashes series due to hamstring and achilles injuries.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n