Ashes gone, whitewash to follow, fears Boycott

London, Dec 19 (UNI) Now that his prophecy of England losing the urn has turned out to be true, former Test great Sir Geoffrey Boycott worries that the worst is yet to come as he cautions Andrew Flintoff and Co. of a 0-5 Ashes whitewash by the ruthless Aussies.

It took England less than 16 months to blew away the Ashes they won after 16 years in 2005 as Australia clinched the series with a 206-run win in the third Test in Perth yesterday.

''Well, don't say that I didn't warn you. This disaster has been steadily creeping up on England for the last 16 months,'' Boycott wrote in his coloumn in 'Daily Telegraph'.

In an interview to BBC Five Live, the cricketer-turned-commentator said: ''I'm worried now about where it goes from here. I'm worried it could be 5-0.

''We are going to Melbourne (next) and we are probably going to get another thrashing. I can't see where they are going to pick themselves up,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Boycott launched a fresh offensive against coach Duncan Fletcher for poor team selection and called for his replacement next April following the World Cup in the Caribbean.

''They wanted to pick players who played in the Ashes-winning team and hoping against hope it would all come right on the day. You pick guys in form and you have to move on. The Aussies move on.

There is no sentiment, no sympathy.

''After the World Cup is the right moment to have a change (at the helm), to have fresh ideas, fresh views. It's just like a business. You run it like a business -- you don't just wait for things to get from bad to worse.'' A long-time Fletcher supporter, ex England captain Nasser Hussain also conceded that errors had been made.

''When I worked with him (Fletcher), he got 95 per cent of selections right. That's why England went on to win the Ashes (last year).

''It's going to be a difficult time for Fletcher in particular because his picks have gone in the other direction. His Ashley Giles pick, his Monty Panesar pick, his Marcus Trescothick pick for the tour and Geraint Jones -- they couldn't be more wrong,'' he said.

Another former captain, Mike Gatting, accused England of failing to show sufficient respect for the task facing them in Australia.

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