Australian team reacts as England cop backlash for mid-Ashes beach trip: 'Not sure you need to do it but...'

Ben Stokes and his team have been hammered for their beach trip mid-Ashes to a Queensland beach town, but found a surprise defender in Alex Carey.

Throughout England’s visit of Australia for the 2025-26 Ashes, how the visiting team has gone about their preparations and training for the massive five-match Test series has been under the scanner. Entering the series with claims of being ready to snatch back the Ashes, crumbling to heavy defeats in the first two matches leaves a lot of pressure on Ben Stokes and his men.

Alex Carey celebrates as Ben Stokes reacts to his dismissal in Brisbane.(AFP)

After Brendon McCullum’s claims that England had over-prepared for the day-night Test in Brisbane, England’s squad arrived in the Queensland beach resort town of Noosa for a small break. Subsequently, pictured enjoying the coast and a laid-back weekend, England have come under further questioning with regards to their seriousness for the task at hand down 2-0.

Nevertheless, they earned some respite and some backing from an unlikely source. Although the Ashes are known for the boundaries drawn between the two teams, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey defended his rivals, pointing out that such a break was nothing out of the ordinary for touring teams on such an extended tour.

"I think it'd be a nice holiday. It's a pretty big series, with lots of time between games. For the Australian cricket team, we get to go home for a few days and be with families, so touring parties have got to find time to fill in those little windows,” said Carey during an event for the Woolworths Cricket Blast.

‘Not a bad time to refresh the batteries’

"I'm not sure you need to do it [but] it's totally up to the touring groups to find ways to take your mind off cricket for a little bit,” Carey further expressed. “The Ashes is very hotly contested. You don't want to be thinking of cricket every single day of the tour. If you do have a little break, it's probably not a bad time to refresh the batteries."

England won’t be happy with the manner in which they capitulated in both Tests from relatively strong positions. In Perth, being dominant in the first day didn’t matter as they slid to a humiliating loss on Day 2. At the Gabba, Joe Root’s maiden century on Australian soil went in vain as loose bowling to the Aussie tail saw them fall to a big first innings deficit against the pink ball.

Many in the English media as well as plenty of English fans have hammered England’s scheduling and planning through this series, with the intent and seriousness seeing question marks after the manner of their first two losses.

However, Carey does make a salient point regarding a mental refresh and needing to take a step away from cricket briefly if the English team intends to challenge Australia. The third Test in Adelaide will see England use three days of warm-up and preparation, but a reset and recalibration against an Aussie team with a returning skipper Pat Cummins could prove to be just the tonic needed.