It's difficult to know where to point the finger at moments like these. Australia have wrapped up the Ashes again - for the eighth series in succession - and as in 2001, they have needed only 11 days to do so. Once again, England's delusional pre-series optimism has been made to look laughably naïve. Of course, it is customary for the kingmakers in the English press to call for the captain's head after an Ashes drubbing. But, although The Sun was unable to resist its pun-tastic headline "Nassacre!", for the most part the papers were surprisingly sympathetic to Nasser Hussain. Sue Mott in the Daily Telegraph had no doubt where the blame lay. "From the moment Hussain set out with this under-prepared, under-skilled, under-fit shower," she wrote, "he found himself under the cosh. It has been a tormenting and painful business.

"We should not heap the entire blame on the man on the front line, and the back foot, the miserable Nasser Hussain. Cricket needs to be vastly overhauled and there is more than one man at fault," added Mott.

Michael Henderson in the Daily Mail agreed. "Hussain cannot be held accountable for English cricket's errors of omission and commission," he argued. "The imbalance goes beyond cricket." He was less forgiving of some of Hussain's elder statesmen, however. "Andrew Caddick should not be retained beyond the end of this series, and neither should Alec Stewart. They have played their part in the unending song, but that melody has ended." Hendo conveniently chose to overlook the fact that Stewart's unbeaten 66 was England's highest score of the match, and it wasn't far off Australia's (71) either.

A similar line was taken by James Lawton in The Independent. "We are languishing in another age, on another planet, and without the means to produce a new and tougher generation of players without first clearing away the killing legacy of the wasted years."

"England need new players, fresh ideas, a stronger foundation and a desire that matches the men in the baggy green caps," wrote Brian Woolnough in the Daily Express. "As professionals, they are in a different league. They care about winning with a passion." And, as Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail added: "[they] have benefited from being given the best part of four months off during their winter, leaving them fit and fresh to take on the old enemy. In future, proper rest periods must be built into England's programme, rather than the snatched fortnights here and there."

But, for many observers, to navel-gaze was to miss the point. "The fact is Australia are better than England, better then any other side in the world, and better than any in history," said Simon Barnes in The Times, and even the Daily Mirror was inclined to agree: "Losing to the greatest Australian side since Don Bradman's Invincibles is no crime," argued Mike Walters. "But," he continued, "the speed of England's collapse was shocking. Apart from Vaughan and his memorable century in Adelaide, none of them has enhanced his reputation."

"England's propensity to choke, whenever Steve Waugh applied the necklace of pressure, became utterly predictable," wrote Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph. "It was not an edifying sight." Especially in the first half-hour of the final act, "a sequence of hapless cricket that could be produced as a comedy award winner at next year's Edinburgh fringe," added Mike Selvey in The Guardian.

The defeat was so absolute that even the Australian press could barely bring itself to gloat. "In olden times," wrote Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald, "victories of this sort provoked widespread celebrations. Now it is accepted with a shrug as locals lament the frailty of these visitors."

The biggest loser, though, was wasn't the team, or the captain, or the fans who have bought tickets for the "deciders" at Melbourne and Sydney. It was the game itself. "With each new disaster," lamented Matthew Engel in The Guardian, "English cricket dies a little more because it cannot provide the heroes the next generation of fans - and potential players - requires."

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