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England coach Brendon McCullum admitted that England's crushing eight-wicket defeat against Australia in Ashes 2025-2026 opener has not only hurt the team all the people who follow the Three Lions.
We've been trying to insulate against reacting too strongly: Brendon McCullum
McCullum stated that the current challenge for the Ben Stokes-led side extends beyond simply recovering from the defeat itself. The primary focus now, according to the coach, is ensuring that the disappointing result does not damage the team's overall confidence or lead them to stray from the strategic direction they have established.
"We've been trying to insulate against reacting too strongly. We know it'll hurt, not just us but all the people who follow this cricket team as well," McCullum told TNT Sports following England's defeat.
"There will be a lot of chatter. For us it's about making sure we don't allow our confidence and our camaraderie to dip too low. We know that at our best we're a very good cricket team. We've now got an extended amount of time off to get ready for Brisbane. We've done it before," he added.
McCullum then heaped high praise on Travis Head's match-winning centurion knock. Head cracked a scintillating 69-ball century, to make light work of Australia's 205-run target on a pitch where an astounding 30 wickets had fallen across only five sessions of play.
It's one of the best knocks I've ever seen in a pressure situation: McCullum on Head's knock
McCullum reiterated the team's belief that a target of 200 runs was indeed defendable under those conditions. However, he stressed that it was Head's spectacular and effective counterattack that fundamentally changed the equation of the game, ultimately securing Australia's victory.
"I thought 200 was a good score for us to try to defend. The way Travis Head played was absolutely outstanding. It's one of the best knocks I've ever seen in a pressure situation on a tough wicket. He knocked us off our lengths. We wanted to try to hold length as long as we possibly could but he put us under so much pressure that we couldn't do it," he added.
"I spoke to [Adam Gilchrist] just before the last innings and he said, 'I think you guys have got 30 too many.' We might have needed another 230 the way Travis played. If someone delivers a performance like that, you have to tip your cap. Yes, we'll look at how we can control things better if that confronts us again, but you've got to acknowledge how special a knock that was, especially as he was out of position as well. I thought it was a brave call from the Australian captain and coach. Clearly they wanted to make the ball soft as soon as possible. He was superb," McCullum concluded.
England would look to bounce back in the second Test, which is slated to get underway from December 4 in Brisbane.
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