Former England test players delivered harsh judgment on the performances of Joe Root's side in the Ashes series, after Tuesday's thumping defeat in the third test saw Australia retain the urn with two matches to spare.
Joe Root Photo: PHOTOSPORT
England were routed for 68 in their second innings on the way to a humiliating innings and 14-run loss in Melbourne as Australia took a 3-0 lead after winning the Brisbane opener by nine wickets and the second match in Adelaide by 275 runs.
"I'm a little embarrassed, to be honest," former England captain Ian Botham said on Australia's Channel 7. "To lose the Ashes in 12 days ... I just think that England have lost their way. The performance today summed it up.
"It's been a walk in the park for the Australians. It burns me to say that but they have completely outplayed England."
Michael Vaughan, another former skipper, said England had not focused on test cricket enough.
"They're a group of players that pride themselves on competing and they've just not managed to find any kind of consistency or skill," Vaughan told Fox Cricket.
"It's not been easy in these times: the England side haven't had a great deal of preparation. But if you want to look for excuses you can, you can always find excuses -- this test match team for quite a while has not been good enough.
"The focus has been on the white ball team and it delivered a World Cup, but we're not a good enough cricketing nation to take our eye off the ball of test match cricket."
Former batsman Geoffrey Boycott says Joe Root must step down as England captain.
"Now Australia are 3-0 up and the Ashes have gone, will Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? I don't mind him living in cuckoo land but stop trying to kid us," Boycott wrote in his column in The Telegraph.
"If he really believes what he says then maybe it is time he gave up the captaincy of the England cricket team. The facts are staring us all in the face, except Joe doesn't want to see it. England can't bat. Our bowling is ordinary."
Boycott said many of Root's decisions were wrong, such as batting first on a seamer-friendly pitch at the Gabba while leaving out James Anderson and Stuart Broad who have over 1,100 test wickets between them.
"It's every cricketer's dream to captain England and Joe has had 59 test matches to mould and stamp his authority on this set of players. He has had 13 tests against Australia with only two wins and nine losses," Boycott said.
Moeen Ali, who retired from test cricket in September, said there was a massive gulf in class between Australia and England.
"Australia are just way ahead of England," Ali told BT Sport. "I didn't think the gap was that big before the series but I almost think it is bigger than we are willing to admit. I can't remember many sessions we have won in this series."
Ex-England pace bowler Steve Harmison added that "there was no fight" and said careers were on the line.
-Reuters
