Cricket

[Chazza]

Good catch by Borthwick 200-5

[Chazza]

Lead of 400.

[Chazza]

Borthwick gets Haddin bowled off an inside edge.

[Shaggy]

Haha love it Borthwicky!

[Chazza]

Stokesey gets Johnson.

[Chazza]

'Have that you ****'

Not sure it's a good idea to get Mitch wound up.

[Harv]

KP retiring would just be icing on the cake

[Shaggy]

'Have that you ****'

Not sure it's a good idea to get Mitch wound up.

Stokes saying that to Johnson was just about the highlight of the series!

Well played Australia. Immense. They have completely humiliated us. They've become a really, really good side though it seems obvious we have made them look that bit better than they really are. SA will be a good barometer but I expect their top order to make the Aus attack look fairly ordinary. Australia's top order is still brittle and Steyn and co will blow them away.

Still, us England cricket fans have endured a number of humiliations over the years - way more than our fair share - and this ranks as the worst embarrassment and the biggest failure I have ever seen.

[Chazza]

Gutless spineless ****houses.

[Chazza]

Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special
"It's pathetic - there is no other word. It's humiliation. It's bad enough to lose all five, but it's how you lose. This is a worse loss than when we lost before 5-0 because they had great players like McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist last time. This current Australia side has had good plans and executed them with conviction. England have just disintegrated. How do you get bowled out in 32 overs? I would have just been getting my eye in."

Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special
"Australia should enjoy it. They have done everything they needed to do with their plans through the coach, captain and staff. For England, I hope it hurts because then there is a chance of growing from this situation. It's been coming - we should have lost 2-0 in New Zealand against what is an average team. Nobody looked at the signs."

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special
"I have never seen an England team throw in the towel, but they did this afternoon. Our senior core of players have not been able to get into any sort of form. The Australian wagon got into motion at Brisbane and England have not been able to cope since. When they come up against hostility and pace, this England side has not been able to cope with it. That last innings there showed how frazzled the team is."

England captain Alastair Cook: "It's tough knowing that you have been beaten badly in five games, that's the hardest thing to take as a sportsman. We weren't good enough to turn it around. We tried to change the way we played but everything we threw at them, they responded really well.

"When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. We will have a look at ourselves but I know we have a lot of talent in England."

England captain Alastair Cook on TMS: "I feel pretty chastened. It's a tough moment for us all, we deserve nothing less.

"If it was a boxing match it would have been stopped. There is a lot of frustration that we have not played very well. It's all gone pretty wrong. We have been totally outplayed and that is the hardest thing to take. The crux of the matter is our performances.

"I've had the dreaded vote of confidence from the board this morning and I feel like I am the man for the job."

More from England captain Alastair Cook: "I don't think we threw in the towel. It's been a combination of four and a half Test matches under the pump.

"I'm proud of the way the lads have stuck at it, but we have been outplayed in the majority of each day and each session and that is a hard thing to take.

"A lot of us have got good records. Over the last 12 months we haven't scored as many runs as we would like. We need to look at the reasons why but it is a lot easier said than done. It is six months until the next Test matches. A lot of things are up for grabs. If you start the county season well it will give people encouragement."

More from Alastair Cook: "That was best bowling attack I have faced in my career so far.

"I've learnt to enjoy it when you are winning because it is a very hard game. At certain times you have to take the game a bit more by the scruff of the neck. They were 130-5 a lot of times but we couldn't get Brad Haddin out. He had the balls to take on shots and deserves a lot of credit.

"One thing we can say that we've done pretty well is stuck together. At times like this factions can corner off in the dressing-room, there can be back-stabbing. That hasn't happened. But out in the middle is where it counts."

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special
"The kneejerk reaction won't be there because the ECB have backed Andy Flower and Alastair Cook. They have to decide how England play their cricket. They play too much by numbers and not enough by instinct out in the middle. They can't complain about the schedule because it's the same as 2010-11 when they won. England have not been at the races. I'm not sure England's gameplan has been about beating the best team of the current era, which is South Africa."

England team director Andy Flower: "Australia's bowling has been outstanding. Mitchell Johnson's pace has been a huge difference between the two sides.

"For us, we've underperformed badly. If I'm honest, we could have seen it coming earlier. We haven't scored heavy runs - anything above 400 - for a very long time.

"To be frank, the pace rocked the batting order in the first Test and we never quite recovered.

"I, as leader along with Alastair, we have to analyse the decisions we have made. A full and logical review in the near future might answer some of those questions."

More from Andy Flower: "This does feel like the end of an era and a chance of some sort of renewal for the England cricket team.

"This wasn't good enough so there should be change of some description. It needs wise people making good decisions at the top. We should take a bit of time to review it properly.

"We have been put under tremendous pressure by a very good team on their own turf. We've had a couple of young guys come in - Ben Stokes stood up to his personal examination really well.

"Steven Finn is a great prospect but he's struggling a bit at the moment. I still believe he can be a good bowler for England but he needs to progress and sort a few things out. He has all the talent and will to do that."

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on Radio 5 live
"I've lost words to describe how England played. That was pathetic. It was always going to happen but there's a way to lose.

"What really disappointed me was when England won at The Oval, everyone was out there - the players, the backroom team. When you lose, you lose as one. Not one of the back-room team was out there today.

"Andy Flower has not evolved this team as he should have done. This is the perfect time.

"Things have to change in personnel and things have to change in terms of how they play their cricket."

ASHES IN NUMBERS
9 - Australia's winless run in Tests prior to the series.

18 - Players used by England. There were 17 in the original touring party.

4 - Number of England debutants.

11 - Players used by Australia, only the fourth side to go unchanged through a five-match Test series.

30.8 - Average age of the Australia XI at the end of the series.

523 - Runs by Australia's David Warner, the top scorer in the series.

294 - Runs by England's top scorer, Kevin Pietersen.

37 - Most wickets in the series, by Australia's Mitchell Johnson, at 13.97.

21 - Most wickets by an England bowler, Stuart Broad at 27.52.

10 - Centuries scored by Australia.

1 - Century scored by England.

255 - England's highest first innings total.

570 - Australia's highest first innings total - for nine, declared.


6 - Times England dismissed for under 200.

1 - Century partnership by England, seven fewer than Australia.

28 - Runs scored by George Bailey in a single James Anderson over in Perth, equalling the world record.

0 - Lbw dismissals by England in the first four Tests.

80 - Graeme Swann's bowling average when he retired after the third Test.

82 - Pages in England's 'essential' touring menu, leaked prior to the series.

[Shaggy]

Cook won't lose his job but he ****ing should.

[Bender]

Congratulations to England for being consistently ****...that ain't easy

[Leyton388]

It takes something really special to beat the 2007 tour and we have just witnessed it. Cook should lose the captaincy and Flower should be sacked. The warning signs were there in the summer tour.

[captainfog]

Stokes saying that to Johnson was just about the highlight of the series!

Well played Australia. Immense. They have completely humiliated us. They've become a really, really good side though it seems obvious we have made them look that bit better than they really are. SA will be a good barometer but I expect their top order to make the Aus attack look fairly ordinary. Australia's top order is still brittle and Steyn and co will blow them away.

Still, us England cricket fans have endured a number of humiliations over the years - way more than our fair share - and this ranks as the worst embarrassment and the biggest failure I have ever seen.

Really, really good sides don't average 140 for 5. They are going to get dicked in SA.

[Shaggy]

Well, their batting is fragile as I said but compared to where they were at not long ago they have improved an awful lot and can rightly be called a good side who will be competitive against most. Agree that SA will overrun them though.