Australia’s tabloid newspapers have mocked the England cricket team’s recent trip to a beach town in Queensland, with references made to head coach Brendon McCullum’s assertion that the tourists had “trained too much” before the second Ashes Test.
The touring squad were spotted in the town of Noosa, just north of Brisbane, with captain Ben Stokes taking pictures with fans and vice-captain Harry Brook pictured alongside Zak Crawley and others drinking beer at a beachside bar.
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And the host nation’s papers delighted in the tourists’ mid-tour trip, with headlines including “Sun’s out, runs out” accompanied by various photos of the travelling squad.
“On back foot, England bails to the beach”, read one headline, with another going with “Life’s a beach, even for the sinking Poms”. The West Australian, which had previously poked fun at England with a headline of “Baz bawl”, highlighted McCullum’s comments with a title of: “’Overprepared’ to the Bitter End”.
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“After gallivanting around golf courses in Perth and joyriding without helmets on E-scooters in Brisbane, England favoured rest and relaxation for their latest mid-series break,” read the article, referencing a ‘controversial’ incident in which some members of the squad were pictured riding E-scooters without helmets. A bemused Stokes later issued a blunt reply promising that the players “will wear helmets” next time when asked by local media.
The break comes after England fell to another limp defeat in the second Test of the series in Brisbane, with the tourists now 2-0 down and needing to win in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in order to retain the Ashes.
And the squad will revert to their usual three-day preparations – rather than the five days that prompted McCullum’s comments – ahead of the third Test, with players given five days of downtime in between. While this prompted confusion among some pundits and ex-players, Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey pointed out that the tourists might need time to “refresh the batteries”, explaining: “The Ashes is very hotly contested. You don’t want to be thinking of cricket every single day of the tour.”
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The third Test begins in Adelaide on 17 December, with England looking to be just the second team to come back from 2-0 in an Ashes series after a home Australia team did so in 1936/37.
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