Sydney, Dec 8 (AFP) Former England captains MichaelVaughan and Bob Willis fear the tourists are heading towards a5-0 whitewash against Australia after failing to win theAdelaide Test.
England slumped to a 120-run defeat in the second Ashesclash this week on a ground widely seen as their best chanceof winning.
It followed defeat in the first Test in Brisbane withPerth's WACA Ground next up, where they have not beatenAustralia since 1978.
Vaughan suggested England had neither the skill norresilience to win a match.
"This was the week we all fancied England to takesomething from," he said in comments in The Australian Friday.
"In Perth, the ball won't swing like this (in Adelaide).
We are now looking like we did in 2013, like we did in 2006-07, you look at this England side, and realistically, can yousee them winning a Test match?"I think it's going to be very difficult to win a Testmatch on this tour."Willis was equally pessimistic, saying Australia wasclearly the superior side.
"England are fighting as hard as they can, but the baldfact is they are up against a better side in theseconditions," he said in the same newspaper.
"The glaring differences are that Australia have expresspace in the seam department and a world-class spinner. We haveneither.
"At this rate, you wouldn't be surprised if it was 5-0,as Adelaide probably represented England's best chance tochalking up a victory."Captain Joe Root has insisted England are "stillmassively" in the Ashes series, while coach Trevor Baylisssaid Thursday that his team had left "a few scars" onAustralia in Adelaide.
Another former England captain, Mike Atherton, said theloss of the opening two Tests had eerie similarities toprevious tours Down Under, including those spearheaded byAlastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, and Nasser Hussain.
"All put a brave face on events; all tried to find theright tone but all, ultimately, were powerless to stop anAustralian juggernaut that, once rolling, gathers momentumwith frightening speed," he wrote in The Times.
"Certainly, the scent is strong and the hounds have beenunleashed and Root's team are struggling to avoid theimpression that they are on the run, short of hundreds andoutgunned with the ball as they are.
"It is going to be a tough few weeks."The third Test of the five-Test series starts in Perth onDecember 14, followed by Melbourne and Sydney. (AFP)ATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.