Every time it has seemed that this horrific tour could not get any worse England have come up with a new low, this time crashing from a position of relative calm at 87 for three at tea chasing a nominal 448 for victory to a pathetic 166 all out. It has simply been the most wretched defence of the urn in history.
How on earth did it come to this? England came here with high hopes of an historic fourth successive Ashes victory but everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for them in a brutal unravelling of a once great Test team.
VIDEO Scroll down to watch a video of Paul Newman assessing England's Ashes performance
England embarrassed! Australia celebrate winning the Ashes 5-0 in Sydney by raising the urn
Elation: The moment finally comes for Australia as they celebrate their historic victory
Winning feeling: Peter Siddle and Michael Clarke kiss the urn at the awards ceremony
All smiles: Shane Watson high-fives Australian fans as he comes off the pitch
Where did it go wrong? Alastair Cook looks dejected as he tries to contemplate England's dire performance
Eras of success always have to come to an end but rarely can a team have sunk so low so quickly as England have over five Tests in which they have been thoroughly outplayed in every department by a rampant, aggressive Australia.
It has not even been a great Australian side, either, but the limitations of their top order have time and again been glossed over by the batting of their tail, marshalled superbly by Brad Haddin, and England’s inability to finish them off.
Yet if England’s bowling has not been fully up to scratch then the real villains of this piece have been the senior batsmen. Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen all again fell woefully cheaply at the SCG in the second innings, with none of them managing more than 300 runs nor an average of 30 plus in the series.
Statistics can prove terribly misleading but they tell the story of England’s batting well enough. They have now gone 25 innings without scoring 400, with six scores in this series below 200, while only Ben Stokes could manage a century in this Ashes compared to 10 hundreds from Australians.
Who would have thought that England’s big three would have a top score of 72 between them and who would have predicted, ahead of the series, that they would finish this series without Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann and Matt Prior?
The last day simply seemed a case of both teams going through the motions in the early stages as it was inevitable, after England’s paltry first innings, that Australia were going to win yet again. Pink day at the SCG, in honour of Glenn McGrath’s late wife Jane, was a case of more red faces for England.
England had again taken early Australian wickets on the second evening but again let the hosts off the hook and it was with some ease that Chris Rogers scored his third century against England to become the leading runscorer from either side in these back to back Ashes. A classic case of a steady, popular tortoise overtaking all the hares from last summer and early this winter.
All changed now: Nathan Lyon replicates England's famous sprinkler celebration
First man down: Mitchell Johnson celebrates taking the wicket of Alastair Cook
Old head frazzled: Ian Bell has to walk off the field after being removed by Ryan Harris for just 16
Unstoppable: Johnson's ball they kept low and nipped back to dismiss Gary Ballance
One-handed grab: George Bailey takes a stunning catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen at short leg
Well played: Chris Rogers pulls a ball to the boundary on his way to getting a century
There was at least a consolation of sorts for England in Scott Borthwick, who has made a reasonable impression on debut with ball if not bat, picking up three wickets as Australia were dismissed for 276. And then the real business began.
There can be no-one who has had a more contrasting series here rather than last time in Australia than Cook, who scored 766 runs at 127 in 2010-11 but finished this time with just 246 runs at 24.
Here he was out cheaply again, this time to the extraordinary figure of Mitchell Johnson, a figure of fun here three years ago and now the producer of one of the great, sustained fast bowling performances in an Ashes series. That, again, is an incredible contrast.
Cook had been out playing no stroke in the first innings and now was dismissed playing at one he should have left alone, a classic case of the captain’s brain being frazzled at the end of a tortuous series for him in particular.
Agility: Michael Clarke gets down low to take the catch dismissing Scott Borthwick
That's out! Ben Stokes drags Ryan Harris onto his own stumps in the second innings
Spinning master: Nathan Lyon gets several pat on the backs for his efforts
Complete shock: Michael Carberry's bat snaps in half after a ball from Harris
Ian Bell, hero of the summer and now another palpable failure, played an awful shot before Kevin Pietersen was the victim of a superb catch at short leg from George Bailey. And after tea, once Michael Carberry had again got out when he was primed for a big score, England’s house came tumbling down, with only some defiant thrashing by the admirable Stokes holding Australia up until Ryan Harris took his fifth wicket to complete the job less than an hour after tea.
The inquest will be long and painful. At the centre of it will be Cook and Andy Flower, architects of so much English success and now firmly under the microscope after such a thrashing. Both have said they want to stay in office, both have been assured their jobs are safe by the ECB and both should stay on.
It would serve no positive purpose for either to lose their head simply because of an understandable outcry over the pathetic nature of England’s defeat. They need to stay and get England out of this mess now.
Raising money: Pink day at the SCG with all supporters showing their support for breast cancer
Problems: Alastair Cook stares into the crowd as he walks off after getting out to Johnson
Bouncers: Boyd Rankin's pitch map shows how short he bowled during Australia's second innings
Yet that does not mean there should not be an injection of new ideas. There is a new managing director of England in Paul Downton and a new national selector in James Whitaker and they should be joined by an infusion of new coaching blood. Graham Gooch, great servant of English cricket though he is, is the most vulnerable of Flower’s support staff as the batting has been so dire.
And there has to be a
significant turnover in playing personnel. The limitations of
Borthwick, Gary Ballance and, in particular, Boyd Rankin on their debuts
shows that you cannot just throw in a bunch of youngsters and see if
they will sink or swim.
There must, though, be a balance and a number of players in this squad must fear that their Test days are numbered, notably Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar, Tim Bresnan and Carberry to add to the retired Swann. Prior will have the chance again while Trott will have to assure England that he is well enough to play without ever having to leave the fray again if he is to come back.
It is a horrible end to a horrible series for England but they will know that, with clear thinking and planning now, they will have every chance of rebuilding positively towards yet another Ashes series in England in 2015. If Flower and Cook are still in charge then England will have every chance of winning back the urn. For now, emphatically, it belongs to Australia.
Boundary: Brad Haddin pulls away a ball during his short innings on the final day at the SCG
Well held: Scott Borthwick takes a good caught and bowled to finally dismiss Chris Rogers
All around the wicket: Chris Rogers wagon wheel after scoring 119
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