England hope 'kick up the bum' sparks comeback

England are banking on a team meeting described as "brutally honest" and "a kick up the bum" to spark an almighty Ashes comeback.

The tourists must defy history if they are to come back from 2-0 down and reclaim the urn, starting with Sunday's Vodafone Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

The only Ashes side to come back from losing the first two Tests and winning the series was Sir Don Bradman's 1936-37 Australians.

Soon after their 275-run belting in Adelaide, England's batters were made to sit through a video selection of their dismissals and home truths were laid bare.

"This was more a kick up the bum," said bowler Mark Wood.

"Those brutally honest conversations ... we probably needed it."

England No.3 Dawid Malan spoke further about the meeting on Thursday, saying it was important they do not go into their shells.

"It was a good, honest chat," Malan said.

"When you go 2-0 down in the series, it's very easy to go 'oh, it's okay, we'll move on'.

"We actually challenged each other to get better, challenged each other in the areas that, as a batting group, where we could have done better."

It has echoes of Australia's meeting following the Ben Stokes-inspired English miracle at Headingley during the 2019 series.

The day after the loss, coach Justin Langer made his players sit through the full video of Stokes' barnstorming innings.

Langer was asked on Thursday whether he would try such a meeting again.

"We won the next Test at Old Trafford and retained the Ashes, so that's one way to look at it, the outcome," Langer said.

"The process was tough at the time, but ... on reflection, would I do it again? I'm not sure.

"But at the time it seemed to be the right thing to do. It seemed to get the right effect.

"I probably would do it again - who knows?"

Malan is England's leading run scorer in the series, but he and captain Joe Root have been unable to turn their half-centuries into tons and that has hurt them.

"Scoring 80 is good, scoring 180 is brilliant," he said.

A key has been leaving the right balls outside off stump, with the majority of England's dismissals involving a buildup of deliveries before the killer blow.

"A lot of our dismissals were probably soft ones, in the sense we could have probably left them," Malan said.

"It's about making the right choices under pressure ... myself included."

Some of the English have not batted in Australia before and Malan said that has been a factor.

"It's a really good learning curve for us - hopefully it's not too late," he said.

Amid speculation about team changes for the third Test, Malan was asked whether he would be prepared to open.

"I will bat wherever," he said.

"I don't see myself as an opener, but if they'd like me to I'm happy to do whatever is needed."

Despite their plight and media reports to the contrary, Malan is adamant morale in the England camp is strong.

"When you lose there always going to be reports that England are at each other," he said.

"It definitely isn't.

"Morale is absolutely fine - everyone is up for it."

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena