England must treat every Test match like an Ashes series decider as part of their red-ball reset, former captain Nasser Hussain said, as their long-term planning and rest-and-rotation policy has weakened them in the game’s longest format.

England are 3-0 down in the Ashes series with only pride to play for in the remaining two tests in Sydney and Hobart.

It has been an abysmal 12 months in red-ball cricket for England, who lost four series in a year for the first time. Never before have they lost nine Tests in a calendar year.

Captain Joe Root and coach Chris Silverwood have come in for heavy criticism, with pressure on the pair growing since England lost the third Test in Melbourne by an innings and 14 runs as Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

“England have had to look after their players in Covid-times, both physically and mentally, but for all their good intentions the extent of their long-term planning and rest-and-rotation policy has cost them Test matches,” Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.

“The initial reset has to see them looking down at the pitch ahead of any Test and selecting the best team for that game, as if it were the World Test Championship final. Pick and play as if the score was 2-2 and they have to win to clinch the Ashes.”