Australian coach Tim Nielsen has accepted the blame for Australia’s Ashes defeat. Nielsen believes the three biggest factors that contributed in Australia’s loss were their failure to take the last wicket in the first Test at Cardiff, the batting collapse in the second Test at Lord's, and misreading the pitch in fifth and final Test at The Oval.

“I take a lot of the responsibility, I feel as though maybe there are things I could've done,” ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ quoted Nielsen, as saying.

“Were they well enough prepared mentally before the game? Did we have a plan in place, a mindset in place that allowed them to adapt and cope with continual loss of wickets? In the end that's what my role is, I'm not running away from that,” he added.

Nielsen further accepted that he had misread the pitch at The Oval and he was shocked to see the low and slow nature.

“The biggest thing - and maybe that is one thing I would change - I believe I misread the wicket. I didn't think it would spin as much as it did from the first day. I thought it was going to be dry,” Nielsen said.

He further said that there was something missing and the team didn’t play the best that it could have given to a series of such historical background.

“We didn't play our best. There's got to be something missing. That's what the last couple of days have been for me, searching for that answer or trying to find in my own mind what I could have done better or where we could have done things differently to ensure a different result,” Nielsen said.