How far can England sink?

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AUSTRALIA marches towards a second Ashes whitewash in five series in Melbourne and England's press were not impressed with their team's showing.

Here's a general consensus of the feeling in the Old Dart.

"With the urn already lost, the tourists suffered perhaps their worst defeat of the series," wrote Tom Collomosse in The Independent.

"This was the worst yet. A wretched, gruesome numbing defeat that not only leaves an Australian Ashes whitewash very much on but also signals, more than the other three emphatic thrashings, the end of a great era for this England team," said Paul Newman in The Daily Mail.

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See what else the Pommy press had to say in the UK View.

HOW LOW CAN ENGLAND FALL?

The Mirror's Dean Wilson feared for England in Sydney with a five-nil whitewash very much on the cards.

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"England's funereal march towards a second 5-0 whitewash out of three Ashes tours gathered pace following a four day humiliation at the MCG," he wrote.

"England's cricketers are so devoid of form, confidence, fight and hunger that even games they are in control of end up going Australia's way."

Derek Pringle, writing for The Telegraph, was also doubtful of England's ability to hold off Australia at the SCG.

"Suddenly, from their three-nil win in the summer, a buffer that was meant to comfort them from the harsher realities of Ashes cricket in Australia, they have been plunged into regime-changing chaos of a potential whitewash in Sydney, something that looks almost certain following this dispiriting defeat," he said.

"From the moment England landed in Perth, this tour has been a litany of failings.

"From the selection of three giant fast bowlers, who have become little more than excess baggage, to the unexpected departure of two senior players during the series, one to stress the other to a sobering decline in form, their defence of the urn has unravelled with alarming ease and speed.

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In signing off in his blog on The Telegraph website, Rob Smyth highlighted the irony of England's change in fortune from 2010-11 to 2013-14

"It's difficult to know what to say. Three years ago, on this ground, England retained the Ashes; this time they have barely retained their sanity. It's all terribly sad. They are 4-0 down after four Tests, and the scoreline flatters them," he said.

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CATCHING CALAMITY

Newman asked how different day four at the MCG may have finished if the tourists had have held their catches.

"How different this Test might still have been had Jonny Bairstow gone for the regulation chance to his left offered by Chris Rogers on 19 and then had Cook, perhaps still fazed by his keeper's poor judgment, not dropped an absolute dolly to reprieve David Warner when he was on 22," he said.

"It was a passage of play that highlighted England's muddled selectorial thinking in bringing Bairstow here as back-up keeper when there are not many who view him as Matt Prior's successor and then the captain's scrambled brain."

The Daily Mail's Lawrence Booth awarded Bairstow his Villian of the Day.

"It's hardly his fault he's not a Test-class keeper, but Jonny Bairstow should have gone for the catch offered by Rogers when he had 19, and he ought to have done better with the low chance Rogers gave on 81. Right now, Bairstow looks like the shortest-term of stopgaps for Matt Prior," he said.