“Holidaying in Noosa? You what!”: Matthew Hoggard blasts England's Ashes approach

The former Ashes winner has accused them of playing “brainless” cricket and questioned the optics of their current mid-series break.

England head into the third Test in Adelaide, starting at 11.30pm on Tuesday UK time, 2-0 down after eight-wicket defeats in Perth and Brisbane.

They are currently holidaying on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland as they seek to become the first England team to win the Ashes 3-2 after losing the opening two Tests.

“It is not impossible to come back,” said the former Yorkshire bowler, a member of the side that famously beat Australia in 2005.

“We were in a commanding position in the first Test, but then we played brainless cricket and lost our wickets and they only chased 200.

“When you have the opposition by the throat, you can’t let them come back in the game and win the little battles - especially Australia in their backyard.

“We need to be very clear with our tactics and stick to them better.”

Hoggard, 48, is surprised that England have been holidaying ahead of the third Test.

The squad has spent several days in Noosa - perhaps an apposite-sounding name under the circumstances.

“The management and coaches have been given a lot of leeway and ropes, and we planned for this series for three years,” said Hoggard, who was speaking to The Yorkshire Post via www.sportsboom.co.uk

“It isn’t going the way we would have liked, and then we go to Noosa for a holiday.

"You what?

“The optics don’t look great, and questions will be asked if they don’t get the results.”

Following the defeat in Brisbane, Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, claimed that his side were “over-prepared” for their mission Down Under.

It is one that saw them have only one warm-up game - against their own Lions second string - and nothing in between the Tests.

“I may disagree with Mr McCullum a little bit about the preparation part,” added Hoggard.

“We are not playing basic, sensible cricket. We are trying to run before we can walk.

“The bowlers can’t hold the line and length, and the batters cannot stay in.

"They are playing big, booming cover drives in the first two or three balls and then snick it off.

“We are trying to play too many shots through the covers on these bouncy wickets, which doesn’t go hand-in-hand.”

Hoggard said that England must bat longer to turn things around.

A damning statistic was that Ben Stokes and Will Jacks’s stand in the second innings in Brisbane lasted for longer than both of the England innings in Perth.

"We have to spend some time in the middle when we bat,” said Hoggard. “We don’t have to score five an over. If we do that, we are lasting only 60-odd overs.

“It doesn’t matter if it takes 150 overs to score 500 runs. You need to score the runs, so the bowlers have something to bowl at. We need to have discipline and belief.”

As for the bowling, Hoggard made clear: “We are trying to bowl the short ball a bit too much.

“We are bowling for one form of dismissal, which is caught, unless we are bowling for a run-out, which is a stupid thing to do in Test cricket.

“We are taking away lbw and bowled. I don’t understand the tactics. There is no intensity in the field.”