Ashes gone for England - Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott believes England have only pride to play for after insisting "the Ashes are gone" following the emphatic defeat by Australia in the second Test at Adelaide.
The former England opener witnessed nine England wickets fall for 60 runs as Andrew Flintoff's side collapsed from 69 for one to 129 all out, before Australia charged to their victory target for the loss of just four wickets.
"Make no mistake about it, the Ashes are gone," he wrote in his column in the Daily Telegraph. "Now this series is about pride. It is about whether England can stop a 5-0 whitewash, because Australia are smarting after losing the Ashes and they want to eradicate the demons of 2005 by winning every Test."
He added: "As for England, they must be absolutely gutted. This defeat is so humiliating and soul-destroying that I don't see how they can come back.
"I've talked about how the bowling coach needs to earn his corn by sorting Steve Harmison out; now it's the batting coach who needs to get his act together. From now on we need less talking and better cricket.
"If you support England, don't kid yourself that they might come back. No England team in history have recovered from 2-0 down against Australia. And let's face it, on current form, this is not a side capable of making history.
"The only explanation I can see for what happened in Adelaide is that England were complacent. They thought they had done all the hard work to put themselves on equal terms."
