By absolutely no stretch of an imagination did England have anything positive to hide behind after the Ashes defeat Down Under.
Not even a statistical figure gave Alastair Cook’s men any comfort.
As Australia partied long and loud at the Sydney Cricket Ground, England sloped off to face a barrage of criticism from all quarters.
The dominance of the hosts was not only underlined but increased on Sunday, when they swept to a humiliating 281-run victory with two days left to complete only England’s third 5-0 Ashes whitewash in more than 130 years.
The tourists lost 100 wickets for 2,030 runs. This makes the latest whitewash even worse than the two others England have had the ignominy of suffering.
In 1920-21, England had lost 98 wickets for 2,779 runs, while in the last whitewash in 2006-07, they scored 2,530 runs at the cost of 96 wickets.
Thirty seven of those 100 wickets taken in the latest Ashes sweep were scalped by the man-of-the-series and the destructor-in-chief Mitchell Johnson.
Cook’s men were ambushed by Johnson in the first Brisbane Test to roll over by 381 runs, and it was downhill from there: Adelaide (218 runs), Perth (150 runs), Melbourne (eight wickets) and finally Sydney, probably the worst defeat of all.
The series marked a stunning turnaround for Australia just months after losing 3-0 in England, and was a crowning achievement for the meticulous preparation of coach Darren Lehmann along with Michael skipper Clarke.
Lethal left-armer Johnson edged veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin for man-of-the-series honours with 37 wickets, the best by an Australian bowler in a five-Test series in Australia.
Only three Australian bowlers have taken 40 wickets or more in an Ashes series—Terry Alderman (twice), Rodney Hogg and Shane Warne.
Australia smashed 10 centuries to England’s one, scored by Ben Stokes 120 in Perth, and home batsmen were the top six scorers ahead of England’s Kevin Pietersen with just 294 at 29.40.
Johnson, and Sydney man-of-the-match Ryan Harris (22), were the top two series wicket-takers ahead of England’s Stuart Broad (21).
England had six innings totals below 200 and only twice scored above 300, while Australia scored 350 or more four times.
Haddin proved England’s lower-order batting nemesis, often rescuing his side after top-order collapses to finish the series with 493 runs, second only to David Warner’s 523.
In doing so, the 36-year-old became the highest-scoring Australian wicketkeeper in a Test series, eclipsing the previous best of 473 by Adam Gilchrist against South Africa in 2001-02.
In the bowling department, little can be taken away by the sheer impact and discipline of the pace attack of Johnson, Harris and Peter Siddle. Collectively they cornered three-quarters (75) of the wickets.
Australia climbed to number three on the ICC Test rankings, supplanting England, and now have their sights set on the number one rated team South Africa in a three-Test series later this month.