England awakes to final Ashes humiliation

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) England cricket fans awoke today to the news they had dreaded.

The Ashes were lost and in the most humiliating way possible -- a 5-0 hammering by Australia in a whitewash not seen between the two countries for more than 80 years.

The euphoria that surrounded the England triumph in 2005 began to fade early in the series with a 277-run thrashing in the first test in Brisbane.

The first ball bowled by England paceman Steve Harmison, wide, wayward and ugly, remains etched in the memory.

But open any England supporter's heart and you may well find the word Adelaide engraved.

In hindsight, they could have batted the Australians out of the match there instead of declaring the first innings at 551 for six and gone to the third test at least only one down knowing the Australians would have to win two of the last three matches to regain the Ashes.

Instead, the home side fought back brilliantly and then blew the opposition away for just 129 in their second innings. It was a textbook example by England of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Psychologically, the damage was done and from then on in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney it was downhill all the way. Painful defeat upon painful defeat, collapse upon collapse.

So why did it all go wrong? NO DOUBT Former England batsman Geoff Boycott was in no doubt, putting it down to lack of ''bottle'' (mental strength under pressure).

He told BBC Radio: ''Quite frankly, they were totally outplayed.

Whenever the questions were being asked of England, they have faltered and they have not been mentally strong enough or technically good enough to hold the Australians at bay.'' Other critics point to lack of preparation with only seven days cricket on Australian soil before the first test.

True, England were without injured skipper Michael Vaughan and paceman Simon Jones and the loss of opener Marcus Trescothick with a stress-related illness nine days before the Brisbane game was a big blow.

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