Whitewash worries England coach Fletcher

Nottingham, England, Aug 6: England coach Duncan Fletcher admitted Sunday that an Ashes whitewash by Australia could inflict huge damage upon his side.

Australia are 3-0 up in the five match series having crushed England by seven wickets here at Trent Bridge on Saturday with a session and two days to spare.

Victory gave Australia the Ashes for a record seventh successive series and they have now set their sights firmly on matching the achievement of Warwick Armstrong's 1920-21 Australians, the only team in Ashes history to win a series 5-0.

Former Zimbabwe captain Fletcher said: ``It would have been important that we won the series, the Ashes. If there is a whitewash, it will set us back quite a bit, I'd have to honest about that, after the good work we have done.''

Failure to make competitive totals has been a major problem for England in their three crushing Ashes defeats so far this summer.

They will be deperate to have the injured middle-order trio of captain Nasser Hussain (finger), Graham Thorpe (hand) and Michael Vaughan (knee) back in time for the fourth Test at Headingley which starts on August 16.

Hussain is set to play in an Essex second XI match against Nottinghamshire starting Wednesday but will have a precautionary net practice first.

His only chance of senior county cricket before Headingley will be Sunday's limited overs league match against Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford.

Fletcher added that being without Hussain, whose tactical acumen and man management had helped England remain unbeaten in five series leading up to the Ashes, was a major disappointment.

``Nasser is very important to the England side he's been with us through that successful period, we were expecting the side to perform well in the series.

``Suddenly to lose him was a very big blow - he's a shrewd captain, assesses the situation well.

``I was very difficult for an individual (Mike Atherton) who hasn't done the job for while, even with his past experience, to come in here in a situation like this and captain against Australia.

Atherton was at least backed up in the field by an improved collective display from the England fast bowlers who reduced Australia to 105 for seven in their first innings at Trent Bridge.

But well as the pace trio of Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and the recalled Alex Tudor performed, Fletcher admitted they had failed to finish the job.

He said: ``At one stage we had a chance when we had them seven down. If we had got a couple of wickets next day, it would have been an interesting Test match, if we'd have knocked them over for 120 and got a few more runs.

``We've got to play a higher standard of cricket. Australia have got an experienced Test side and have come through those areas before. I think 250 would have been a good target.

``This side has shown it's got pride before - they want to come back and play with a lot of a pride and try and get a victory or two out of the next two Tests.

``We've gone though five Test series undefeated before this. The guys played well. At the end of day, and I've mentioned this before, we probably peaked too soon to some degree.''

Fletcher reacted defensively to suggestions that, with the series lost, now was the ideal time to blood new players.

``Selection is always a very difficult task, it not an easy job to do. You pick someone you always get criticised in hindsight.

``Most of the time when you pick them (new players) you are not sure how mentally strong they are when they reach that level and you only find out when they play out there.''

It is far from certain if Atherton and fellow veteran Alec Stewart will make themselves available for England's winter tours to India and New Zealand, never mind the one-dy series in Zimbabwe, but Fletcher said that was no reason for dropping them now.

``Alec Stewart has done well, kept well, played some important knocks, Atherton's played some very important knocks for us. Not only that, they are experienced.