The China Mail - Undercooked, arrogant? Beaten England's Ashes build-up under scrutiny

Ben Stokes's men were crushed inside two days by Australia in the opening Test in Perth and fared little better under lights at the Gabba to go 2-0 down.

Pundits and former players feared ahead of the series that the England players had nowhere near the level of preparation required for such a gruelling five-Test assignment away from home.

That criticism came into sharp focus anew on Saturday at a roasting-hot Gabba as Australia took the second Test away from a bedraggled England who were outbatted, outfielded and outbowled with the pink ball.

"Nowhere in a million years has preparation been right," said former England captain and Ashes winner Michael Vaughan, now a prominent pundit.

"You have players that are out there that were looking completely shell-shocked against the pink ball because they're playing with it for the first time."

Steve Harmison, a former Ashes-winning fast bowler for England, said the bowlers were "rusty" in Brisbane.

"No matter what anyone wants to say from the England camp about preparation... today that's come home to roost," he told the talkSPORT Cricket podcast after day two, when Australia forged a 44-run lead in the day-night Test.

England played only one pre-series warm-up match and then, following the eight-wicket defeat in Perth, opted against putting their first-choice players into a pink-ball tour game in Canberra.

Instead, they headed to Brisbane for extra net sessions at the Gabba, a move that was branded "amateurish" and "bizarre" by some pundits.

Not everyone thought it was the wrong decision, with former captain Mike Atherton saying more net practice, including under the lights, made sense.

"There is also a significant difference in heat and humidity in Brisbane compared with Canberra," Atherton wrote in The Times.

- Accusations of arrogance -

Fears that England were "undercooked" and heading for trouble as a result was one of the major talking points ahead of the series.

In their bid to win the Ashes in Australia for the first time since 2010-2011, the full squad only assembled in Perth in the second week of November for the first Test starting on November 21.

Some came from a white-ball series in New Zealand, where they crashed 3-0.

Others arrived in dribs and drabs, followed by a three-day friendly against a second-tier England team.

In contrast, almost all of Australia's Ashes squad had consistently been playing domestic Sheffield Shield matches around the country in the build-up.

England great Ian Botham said before the series that the lack of warm-ups against Australian state sides "borders on arrogance".

"I think historically you have to acclimatise when you come down here," Botham said.

"You've got to remember there's 24 million people down here, not 11. And you have to take that on board."

At the end of a demoralising Saturday at the Gabba in which England were totally outplayed, assistant coach Marcus Trescothick was asked if the lack of preparation was to blame.

"No, not at all, not for me," he told the BBC.

"Cricket is a lot more condensed these days. It's the same for Australia when they come to England, it's the same for India when they come to England, when we go to opposition countries we do exactly the same.

"There's no real difference, it's just the way it is.

"Fair enough we haven't played the quality of cricket we wanted to, but it's not down to our preparation."

A.Zhang--ThChM