The Ashes blunder that summed up England’s criminal attitude to the basics ...Middle East

Day 3: Australia 371 & 271-4 (Head 142*, Carey 52*) lead England 286 by 356 runs

ADELAIDE OVAL — Perhaps the moment England really knew their Ashes hopes had finally slipped through their fingers was late on the third day here in Adelaide when Harry Brook dropped Travis Head on 99.

Maybe this must-win third Test had gone by then anyway, with Australia already 292 ahead with six wickets remaining.

But in that instant, Brook’s drop at slip off the bowling of Jofra Archer felt symbolic.

For too long this series, England have been second best in every department. But it has been in the field where they have really shot themselves in the foot, with the three drops so far in this match following the five that cost them so dearly during the second Test in Brisbane.

The symbolism runs deep, too, with the errors in the field not only symptomatic of a criminally-short warm-up period that contributed to England going 2-0 down in the series after just six days of cricket but also the casual attitude of coach Brendon McCullum to the very fundamentals of the sport.

The Adelaide Oval holds its breath as Travis Head is dropped on 99! pic.twitter.com/sQbGCeJNKb

Since taking over the Test team at the start of the 2022 summer, McCullum has radically slimmed down England’s backroom staff.

One of the casualties was a specialist fielding coach. This is the role that used to be performed by Carl Hopkinson, who was initially eased out of the Test set-up before being discarded altogether when McCullum also took over England’s white-ball teams at the start of this year.

Hopkinson wasn’t rated by everybody in the English game but he was good enough to be in his position for six years and was on board for two World Cup wins – the 50-over triumph in 2019 and T20 success in Australia in 2022.

Yet his services were no longer required in any capacity once McCullum became England coach across all formats.

Instead, the New Zealander and assistant coach Paul Collingwood filled in as auxiliary fielding coaches. Collingwood is no longer with the team, meaning since the start of last summer McCullum has been chiefly responsible for running fielding sessions.

This in itself is problematic given his other responsibilities, and the level of practice has noticeably reduced.

There are still the morning slip-catch routines which McCullum oversees before the start of every day’s play.

But gone are the specialist drills once overseen by Hopkinson and Collingwood – such as the run-out challenges involving a set of plastic stumps and a game called “21” in which players would gain points for catches and direct hits.

The results have been there for all to see in this series. But that should be no surprise.

No England fielder has pulled off a run-out in Ashes cricket since the second Test of the 2021-22 series – 12 matches ago.

This lack of attention to detail has cost England across every discipline in this series. But it hasn’t just been confined to fielding, with no specialist wicketkeeping coach, full-time bowling coach or nutritionist with the team any longer.

Just like the failure to take the preparation period for an Ashes series seriously, with just one sole warm-up match against the England Lions at the ill-suited Lilac Hill ground in Perth, this really does smack of arrogance.

England said they wanted to change the way Test cricket is played at the start of the Bazball era. Many of the changes McCullum introduced at the start of his tenure came off, with the relaxed approach and encouragement to be positive having spectacular results initially following a period when England’s players had been ground down by the overbearing restrictions of the Covid period.

Yet the team has not evolved since the 2023 home Ashes series. Indeed, it’s stalled.

Results are everything in sport but the truth about McCullum and this set-up are finally emerging as this Ashes series slips away. Bazball is dead and McCullum’s stock has fallen quicker than the Deutsche Mark during the hyperinflation crisis in 1920s Germany.

Catches win matches is a well-worn cricketing cliche. But now drops may well cost jobs in this set-up – starting with McCullum’s.

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