Cricket - The Ashes - Australia v England - Third Test - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia - December 21, 2025 England head coach Brendon McCullum talks to the press after the match REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
ADELAIDE, Australia, Dec 21 (Reuters) - England's red-ball coach Brendon McCullum faced a barrage of criticism from former players and captains on Sunday after his team slumped to another crushing Ashes defeat by Australia.
The hosts swept to an 82-run win in the third Ashes test at Adelaide Oval to retain the urn with two matches to spare.
After eight-wicket defeats in Perth and Brisbane, England have lost the Ashes in three matches for the fourth consecutive tour, while losing 16 of their last 18 tests in Australia.
The thrashing has obliterated any remaining vestiges of optimism around England, who many had touted as favourites when the series began just weeks ago.
In a scathing column for The Telegraph, former England batter Geoffrey Boycott said the high-risk philosophy the tourists had adopted under McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, nicknamed 'Bazball', had "run its race".
"Hubris has taken over from common sense and that cannot be allowed to carry on. Stokes and McCullum are like men digging a hole to nowhere. If what you are doing isn't working then stop digging," Boycott wrote.
"Change is absolutely necessary to step up to the next level. What would I do? Change the coach. We are tired of this duo talking a good game but not delivering against the best teams so (team director) Rob Key, it is time for you to assert yourself.
"I would also sit down with Stokes and find out if he will compromise on his approach to batting and be prepared to embrace new ideas ... You do not want to lose him, but if he doesn't see that a change of attitude is needed then you have to find a new captain."
HEADS WILL ROLL, SAYS VAUGHAN
England's scant preparations and lack of tour matches in Australia had already drawn heavy criticism from former players and pundits, after the visitors only played a warm-up against England Lions in Perth's Lilac Hill before the first test.
England's batters only managed 172 and 164 in each innings as they lost the first test in just two days.
"It's mainly about the intensity of Ashes cricket. You're not going to mimic that by playing a little warm-up game in Lilac Hill," ex-England captain Nasser Hussain said on Sky Sports.
"Come here early and play against anyone that gives you intense cricket on pitches that bounce. (It's) for this very reason that sides come... and they (England) get found out on two bouncy pitches.
"And then they come here (Adelaide), and last two days they play pretty well, but that's too late."
Former England captain Michael Vaughan also tore into the current team in his column in The Telegraph.
"The whole approach of this England side has been badly exposed on this Ashes tour, and you don’t have to look far into history to know that heads will roll after a defeat like this," he wrote.
"In the end, with defeat inside 11 days, it’s the worst I can remember in Australia."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Ken Ferris)
