WELL I certainly won't be enjoying my Christmas after watching England surrender the Ashes in Perth.

I have heard people go on about looking at the plus points to come from the series - the form of Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen's batting and the arrival of Paul Collingwood as a Test player.

Well I'm sorry, when you get spannered like England have done in the opening three Tests then there are no plus points.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, England were just not prepared properly for the most important Test series in their history.

Duncan Fletcher's men have basked in their glory of 2005, while the Australians have rolled up their sleeves, worked hard, spent nights out in the Bush, and prepared themselves properly - and it has paid off.

The annoying thing is, it was so easy to see that England had no chance of beating the Aussies with so little competitive four-day cricket in the build-up to the series.

Stick

And why on earth did they go into the opening Test with two players who hadn't played all summer in Ashley Giles and Jimmy Anderson, especially when Monty Panesar and Saj Mahmood - who had been in the set-up all season - were both fit and raring to go?

Duncan Fletcher is taking the brunt of the stick. But, having done the job myself, I have a bit of sympathy for him.

He has made mistakes, just like the rest of us, but he is only the coach. The players bowl the wayward deliveries and play the silly shots, not the coach.

It is perceived that the England coach has the same role as say Sir Alex Ferguson does at United, well he doesn't. His role is nothing like that, it is more like Carlos Queiroz.

He has his input into team selection but he doesn't necessarily have the final say.

One good thing that might come out of this shambles is a change in the way the side is selected.

In my eyes, it has always been wrong, with the selectors chosing a squad and then the coach and captain, along with some seniors players, naming the side.

We should look at the way the Australians do it. Their four-man selection panel name the side, which the coach then coaches and the captain then captains. Simple.

That means neither John Buchanan nor Ricky Ponting feel the heat for picking the wrong players if the side looses.

When the flak comes his way, Ponting always says: "Ask the chairman of selectors."

What do you think? Have your say.

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