Ian Botham led an onslaught of criticism for England's Ashes failures after Joe Root's team capitulated pitifully to lose the final Test in Hobart.
Botham was joined by fellow former England captains Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan and David Gower in picking apart another wretched display, with Australia tying up a 4-0 series victory.
England sit at the foot of the World Test Championship, and Botham said the culture of English cricket needed to change, with the heavy emphasis on domestic limited-overs competitions harming the five-day team.
Speaking on Channel 7, Botham said: "It's been embarrassing, if I'm honest. Gutless.
"The way they performed today disappointed me and will have disappointed everyone back home."
England went from 68-0 to 124 all out, the final ignominy from a shambolic tour performance as Australia won by 146 runs.
"The one thing we need to do right now is take our heads out of the sand and pull together and prioritise red-ball cricket," Botham said. "If we're not careful, the eskimos will be beating us."
Cook, Joe Root's predecessor as captain, found it a jarring watch as England went from building a solid foundation to outright carnage, unable to hold back Australia's victory charge.
"There was no resilience there. As soon as they get under pressure, you seen how much resolve there is," Cook said.
"That was very, very tough viewing and that has to be our rock bottom. There cannot be any worse a place in terms of getting bowled out in an hour and a half."
Speaking on BT Sport, Cook added: "As a batter and a professional who plays games of cricket, you get bowled out in a session once or twice in a career.
"You see a batting line-up devoid of all confidence and belief, that once you lose one wicket or two wickets, nobody's going to step up and stop that slide.
"You can talk all you want about it in the dressing room, but until some people grab this team by the scruff of the neck and move it forward themselves, I can't see what's changed."
Vaughan, on Twitter, said England had carried through 2021's "year of the batting collapse" into this year, adding: "You can cope with losing but not when you throw the towel in."
Gower suggested the positive messages that Root and coach Chris Silverwood attempted to deliver were misleading.
"I think we understand very easily that neither Joe Root or Chris Silverwood are going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth under these circumstances," Gower said.
"Both are under pressure for different reasons. Joe has handled it well, kept a smile on his face. When you see him run out to bat today you can see there is a man who wants to do his best to finish on a high note, but he is not being supported.
"Silverwood's role is a different one because he is fully implicated in selection, and selection's been one of the huge talking points on this tour, right from Brisbane onwards."
For the first Test at the Gabba, England went into the match and series with star bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson mystifyingly left on the sidelines.
"There were jaws dropping at home and in Brisbane when the team was announced and when events unfolded," Gower said.
Also speaking on BT Sport, Gower said he had "genuine sympathy" for Root given the focus on white-ball cricket. Although England won the World Cup, in Test cricket they are firmly in the doldrums.
"This is the oldest, most important form of the game," Gower said. "We need to defend it, we need an England team that plays it well, that is not languishing at the foot ... barely even at the foot of the World Test Championship.
"These things really annoy people and apparently it's really annoying me at the moment.
"When you're going to try to be constructive, you look at personnel for sure, so there will be people fearing for their position in the side. Then you also have to consider who else is there to take over. There are players out there who would hope they might get a go as a result of other people's failures, but they've got to show character."
Jimmy Adams out as CWI Director of Cricket; search for replacement underway
Jimmy Adams is out as Cricket West Indies Director of Cricket and the regional government body has commenced a search for his replacement.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Wednesday that the recruitment process for a new director of cricket has begun as the role will become vacant at the end of June when Jimmy Adams' contract expires.
Adams, who played 54 Tests and 127 One-Day Internationals for the West Indies, has been in the role since January 2017.
“We are extremely grateful for the leadership and contribution that Jimmy has made over the past six and half years," said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.
"He has overhauled our High-Performance structure, especially with respect to Coach Education and Development, Sport Science and Medicine and most recently with the launch of our Academy based at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) in Antigua. I have no doubt that Jimmy will continue to contribute to the game, particularly West Indies Cricket.”
Meanwhile, CWI President Dr. Kishore Shallow, lauded Adams for his contribution to West Indies Cricket.
“Jimmy has always served West Indies Cricket with passion and distinction. His composed demeanor and professionalism have inspired many positive outcomes over the years," said Dr Shallow.
"One of his legacies would definitely be the commencement of a coaching revolution in the region. On behalf of the CWI Board, we wish him a favorable future path.”
Adams said serving West Indies cricket has been a privilege.
“It's been an honour to have been involved in the ongoing evolution of CWI," he said.
"I have had the privilege of working with some amazing people across the organization and am grateful for all the support they gave me over the past six plus years. I wish everyone all the best going forward especially in light of the various challenges that exist both regionally and globally.”
Under the leadership of Jimmy Adams as Director of Cricket, CWI started a Coach Education & Development Department that created a new set of CWI coaching courses and accreditations that has seen over 1,000 new certified coaches in the region; launched the Men’s Academy, based at CCG in Antigua; started an U19 Regional Women’s Tournament, Women’s ‘A’ Team series and the Women’s Caribbean Premier League and established a Sports Science & Medicine Department to drive a fitness culture.
He also implemented a new Selection Policy that included appointing separate Women’s and Youth Selection Panels as well as established the High-Performance Coaching Group.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots keep Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher among seven retentions for 2023 CPL
The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have retained d big hitters Evin Lewis and Andre Fletcher for their 2023 campaign in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The Patriots will also retain middle-order batsman Sherfane Rutherford, all-rounder Dominic Drakes as well as fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell and wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua da Silva. The Patriots have also brought in Oshane Thomas who was transferred from the Barbados Royals.
The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.
The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.
Kevin Sinclair stars with bat and ball as West Indies make 445, restrict Bangladesh 'A' to 157-7
West Indies ‘A’ took full control of the third and final unofficial Test against Bangladesh ‘A’ on Wednesday on the back of strong performances from their batsmen and bowlers at the Syhlet International Stadium.
Carrying on from their overnight score of 320-6, the West Indies eventually scored 445 all out. Their bowlers then combined to reduce the hosts to 157-7, still 288 runs behind with only three wickets remaining.
The hero of the day was Kevin Sinclair, who scored 60, the sixth half-century of the innings to help push the West Indies ‘A’ past 400 runs. Sinclair was 22 not overnight in a 60-run partnership with Raymon Reifer, who failed to add to his overnight score of 56.
With only two runs added to the team score, Reifer was out caught behind off in the second over the day to Shoriful Islam but Sinclair and Akeem Jordan put on 87 for the eighth wicket that took the score to 407 when Jordan, who has been showing off his potential with the bat, was dismissed by Mahmudul Hasan Joy for 47.
Ten runs later, Sinclair’s stay at the crease ended when he was trapped lbw by Nasum Ahmed, who also snared Veerasammy Permaul in similar fashion for 18 to end the lower-order resistance. Anderson Phillip was not out on 13 when the innings ended after 116.2 overs
Nasum Ahmed finished with figures of 5-133 from 38.2 overs. Shoriful Islam took 2-80 and Musfik Hasan 2-59 in support.
Bangladesh ‘A’ struggled with the bat as Sinclair took 2-51 and Phillip 2-36 ripped through the line-up that offered little resistance.
Captain Saif Hasan was the top scorer with 32 and opener Zakir Hasan was run out for 29. Nurul Hasan contributed 28 but the hosts were unable to establish any significant partnerships while trying to cope with the visitors’ attack.
Atr stumps, Tanzim Hasan Sakib was not out on 17 with Nasum Ahmed at the other end on seven.
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