England players need a kick up the backside: Nasser Hussain

Former England allrounder Sir Ian Botham has labelled England's Ashes display as 'embarrassing' and 'gutless'. Joe Root and Co. lost the final Test by 146 runs and were hammered 4-0 in the five-match series. The visitors lost 10 wickets in the space of 56 runs in Hobart and failed to chase down a target of 271. England have now lost 13 of their last 15 Tests in Australia.

Speaking on Channel 7, Botham said: "It's been embarrassing, if I am honest, gutless. I thought the way that they performed today would have disappointed me and disappointed everyone back home. They should be disappointed in that dressing room as well, with the performance. The one thing we have to do now is take our heads out of the sand and we need to pull together and prioritise red ball cricket."

The 66-year-old said some of the players could be at the end of their careers, and was also not impressed with the team selections throughout the series. "They've been completely steam-rollered and ... a lot of these guys could be at the end of their careers. And a lot will be sent back to learn how to play at this level because the Australian public wanted a fight and they haven't had it," he told BT Sport.

"It's disappointing and some of it has been embarrassing – selections, winning the toss and bowling when it's overcast on a green pitch in Brisbane, where I played for a year and could have told them exactly what it was going to do. Then we left two guys with 1,156 wickets [James Anderson and Stuart Broad] sitting in the stand and carrying the drinks. There's been a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense."

Meanwhile, former England captain Nasser Hussain wants the coaching staff to be brutally honest to the players rather than being nice and humble. "It is easy to get emotional at the end of the Ashes and find a scapegoat. Captains and coaches do not usually survive. Chris Silverwood looks vulnerable and it would be odd for the same management team to go to the Caribbean as if they have not made any mistakes — there have been so many," he wrote his column for the Daily Mail.

"Joe Root, Chris Silverwood, Graham Thorpe, Paul Collingwood and Ashley Giles are all good blokes. But that might be the issue. Giles was so emotional before this Test because he is a good guy who has tried to look after his players. But apart from binning off football in warm-ups, where has Giles gone against his team? It is the same with Silverwood and Root. Maybe the players need a kick up the backside, a rollicking, tough love for a while. ‘No, you’re not doing that, we’re in charge, you’re under contract.

"Instead of the arm around the shoulder, some tough questions need to be asked. If you don’t, you may be a good bloke, but you will be out of a job. The only honesty was from Stuart Broad in Sydney, when he said you can pick whatever bowling attack you like if you are constantly 140 all out. That is the brutal honesty you need from coaches. You can make mistakes but be honest. 

"Giles made Silverwood the supremo so they have got no voice from outside of the dressing room. Ed Smith gave them that in his role as national selector and was sacked because some players did not like him. He was not there to be liked but to give external thoughts. But the last thing I want is to do what we always do after losing the Ashes: sack captain or coach and think it will be fine."