England’s players have been putting in further hard yards as they attempt to secure a long-awaited first win over Australia during their disappointing Ashes tour.
A 5-0 whitewash in the main event preceded the home side taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the one-day international rubber.
England are unsurprisingly hurting but, as James Tredwell points out, doing everything in their power to rectify matters.
That was certainly evident today amid Alastair Cook’s side training for four hours in blistering heat at Perth.
“We’re trying to be really honest with ourselves,” said Tredwell. “We understand that we've not been good enough on this tour.
“Our skills need to be better. We’ve not quite put them into practice over a period of time.
“We’ve spoken a lot about pushing back and giving Australia a bit of their medicine but that’s not always easy when the skills aren’t up to scratch.
“If we are really honest about it, that’s been the issue this winter.”
Tredwell reports that the days following England’s last defeat have offered a good opportunity for reflection.
“You get a few days like this when you get a chance to look at what’s gone and where you want to go,” Tredwell said.
“We’ve certainly done that this morning. That started today. We were all down after the last game there’s no doubt about that.
“Alastair more than most. As captain you do tend to take a lot of that on yourself.
“He was down but we’ve had a really good chat today and he was at the forefront of that and we want him to take charge going forward.”
England’s hopes in Perth are perhaps boosted by Australia resting Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, David Warner and Shane Watson– not that Tredwell is about to start underestimating their replacements.
“Maybe (this is a better chance to win), but we know how many good players there are in Australia as well,” said Tredwell.
“The guys that are coming in for the guys that have been rested are no mugs. We know it is going to be a tough game. We'd like this to be the game.”
Even though the series is lost, England are all too aware of how important the final two ODIs are as they try and build momentum with the World Cup just a year away.
Tredwell added: “It is looking forward to how we improve in the upcoming games, not just in this series but over the rest of the year and to the World Cup.”