Humiliation of 5-0 Ashes hiding still hurts: Strauss

LONDON - England cricket captain Andrew Strauss has said that the humiliation of the five-nil hiding during the disastrous 2006-07 Ashes tour still hurts, and he would his all to ensure it is not repeated.

Addressing his final news conference at Lord’s before flying out for next month’s series opener in Brisbane, Strauss said the England cause was not helped by some shabby umpiring decisions.

He even admitted it would do more harm than good to reflect too heavily on Australia’s 5-0 whitewash the last time the Ashes were held Down Under.

“It was a gradual sort of erosion of confidence over the course of the tour for all of us. We went there with high hopes for all of us. We got outplayed in Brisbane, we played well in the match in Adelaide and then to lose that Test match was a bit of a kick in the teeth and from then on, once the Ashes were lost it is obviously quite a hard thing to keep going,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Strauss, as saying.

“I don’t think it is particularly helpful for us to drag through the kind of details of the last tour. I think the lessons have been learnt from that and we will be better prepared this time,” he added. (ANI)