England struggled to adapt to Australian conditions

After their early ICC Champions Trophy exit, England returned home for several days but then had just a week to prepare for the first Ashes Test.

"There was the opportunity to come here and play extra cricket or go home and spend some quality time with family.

"The judgement call was that quality time at home was better than some unplanned cricket here," said Morgan.

"Bear in mind that immediately after this long tour we go to the West Indies for the Cricket World Cup."

England played a one-day game and two three-day games before the opening Test in Brisbane, when they looked unprepared for Australian conditions in a 277-run defeat.

There's every chance that Twenty20 will replace the Champions Trophy and that can only be to the advantage of the game David Morgan

The shock final-day collapse in Adelaide left them 2-0 down and defeat in the current match in Perth will see them concede the Ashes, won just 15 months ago.

Morgan, recently confirmed in his job until 2009, argued it was impossible to plan extra matches because the team could have reached the Champions Trophy final.

In that case, they would then have flown straight to Australia.

He did suggest, though, that planning future programmes will be easier if the Champions Trophy is replaced by a Twenty20 World Championship, which is a possibility.

"The Champions Trophy is a very valuable commodity that does much to fund the grass roots of the game," he told BBC Test Match Special.

"If and when that is replaced by the Twenty20 World Championship I think that will be equally valuable, very successful and take a lot less time.

Many businessmen who travel abroad have their families with them

"There's every chance that Twenty20 will replace the Champions Trophy and that can only be to the advantage of the game, particularly from a scheduling point of view."

Many of England's players have been accompanied by wives, girlfriends and children throughout the Test series but Morgan denied that had been a distraction.

"Many businessmen who travel abroad have their families with them.

"It's a comfort and there's every reason to believe that they perform better with their families around them."

Asked about the affect on the game at home if England fail to hold onto the Ashes, he said: "If we fail to retain the Ashes that will be a great disappointment.

"But I do not believe it will have any adverse effect on the initiatives we have in place."