{"id":308148,"date":"2025-12-10T03:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T03:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308148\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T03:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T03:32:09","slug":"over-prepared-england-squad-get-ready-for-next-test-by-relaxing-on-beach-with-beers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308148\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Over-prepared’ England squad get ready for next Test by relaxing on beach with beers"},"content":{"rendered":"

England’s cricketers have been spotted unwinding on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, enjoying cold beverages and sunshine in Noosa following their demoralising eight-wicket loss to Australia at The Gabba.<\/p>\n

The touring party travelled to the popular resort destination on Tuesday, with captain Ben Stokes and several teammates photographed soaking up rays on the beach.<\/p>\n

Head coach Brendon McCullum personally drove a number of players to the coastal town, where some stopped for sushi before making their way to Noosa Main Beach.<\/p>\n

Stokes was seen strolling along the sand in board shorts, happily posing for photographs with supporters.<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England stars relaxed on the beach days after their gruelling defeat in the second Ashes Test<\/p>\n

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Channel 7<\/p>\n

Opening batsman Zak Crawley joined fast bowlers Brydon Carse and Will Jacks for al fresco drinks as the squad attempted to clear their heads after falling 2-0 behind in the series.<\/p>\n

The Noosa excursion had been arranged before England even arrived in Australia, with McCullum revealing his squad would take a break from practice this week.<\/p>\n

His explanation for the decision raised eyebrows considerably.<\/p>\n

“I actually felt like we over-prepared to be honest,” McCullum stated following the Brisbane defeat. “I think sometimes when you’re in the heat of the battle, as we all know, sometimes the most important thing is to feel a bit fresh.”<\/p>\n

The New Zealander elaborated that five intensive training sessions had left his players mentally drained rather than match-ready.<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England coach Brendon McCullum had insisted his players were ‘over-prepared’ for their shocking performance at The Gabba<\/p>\n

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REUTERS<\/p>\n

Drawing an unusual analogy, McCullum compared his coaching philosophy to equine management: “I’m a horse racing man and you wouldn’t just keep doing the same thing with your horse. You would send it around in figure eights or over the little jumps just to try and switch it on.”<\/p>\n

Former England captain Nasser Hussain expressed bewilderment at the touring party’s itinerary in his column for The Athletic.<\/p>\n

“I can’t understand England’s schedule for the week ahead,” Hussain wrote, questioning why the visitors would enter the Adelaide Test without facing any Australian opposition in warm-up fixtures.<\/p>\n

David Lloyd, another former England skipper, took an even dimmer view of the Noosa retreat.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think I’d be going to Noosa. I’m a bit old-school, it’d be naughty boy nets,” Lloyd told BBC Sport. “There are definite consequences to this. There always has been, there always will be.”<\/p>\n

Former Australian paceman Jason Gillespie was equally scathing, posting on X: “I’m not sure if any coach in the history of professional sport has been given the amount of rope Brendon McCullum had.”<\/p>\n

England’s injury concerns deepened on Tuesday when it emerged that Mark Wood has been ruled out for the remainder of the Ashes campaign due to a left knee problem.<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England stars were also seen drinking beers while the Noosa trip was booked in before the Test in Brisbane<\/p>\n

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Channel 7<\/p>\n

The Durham fast bowler had been photographed relaxing on Noosa beach alongside Stokes earlier in the day before the devastating news was confirmed.<\/p>\n

His absence represents a significant blow to England’s already slim hopes of mounting a comeback.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes’ England side have suffered two bruising defeats Down Under<\/p>\n

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PA<\/p>\n

The tourists now face a near-impossible task, with Don Bradman’s 1936-37 Australian side the last team to recover from a 2-0 deficit to claim an Ashes series victory.<\/p>\n

England are scheduled to resume training ahead of the third Test at Adelaide Oval, which commences on 17 December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England’s cricketers have been spotted unwinding on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, enjoying cold beverages and sunshine in Noosa following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,2331,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-308148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sgg","10":"tag-sport","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}