Ollie Pope admitted that the public perception that England "weren't fussed" about the Ashes was hard to take.

England fell to a 4-1 defeat to Australia Down Under, with Brendon McCullum's tourists struggling for large periods during their tour.

Pope failed to make an impact with the bat, scoring 125 across six innings at an average of 20.83 before being dropped for the final two matches.

There were also concerns around England's behaviour off the field, with reports of excessive drinking by players in Noosa.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are currently reviewing the tour's planning, preparation, individual performances and behaviour.

The ECB initially stopped the Ashes players from speaking to the media before reversing that decision, and Pope revealed their struggles during the tour.

"Going into that series, there was a lot spoken about the preparation of it. As a team, the misconception might be that we weren't as fussed as it came across," the 28-year-old said at Surrey's pre-season media day.

A remarkable day of Ashes cricket comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/DMvjsbrjqV

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"The tough thing for everyone in that first game was the nature of it. Had we won that, and we'd done slightly better on day two, the idea is different.

"Of course, we want to be a well-liked team, on and off the pitch, and unfortunately, our performance didn't allow that to happen in Australia.

"I can understand why people felt that way, but at the same time, the perception that we weren't fussed was probably the hard thing. All we wanted to do was go and win the Ashes.

"As individuals, everyone's trying to manage with the pressures of an Ashes series and trying to get the best out of their performance and doing what they can.

"All anyone wanted to do was to win. And for us, at times, it was just trying to, in our minds, take the pressure off the actual Test match."