Ashes: England never stood a chance in Australia - Jonathan Agnew

Realistically, England never stood a chance.

Like plenty of others, I thought there were a number of factors going into this Ashes series that would level the playing field: the disrupted preparations, the two pink-ball Tests, no match in Perth.

I was wrong. England's build-up has left them brutally exposed to an Australian side including a number of players who have been getting match practice in the Sheffield Shield.

Joe Root's side gave up their battle to regain the urn inside only 12 days of cricket, the last of which was a meek surrender to 68 all out to lose the third Test by an innings and 14 runs.

England have been criticised for their decision making, both over the course of this year and since they arrived in Australia. Root, coach Chris Silverwood and others who run the team will come under scrutiny.

However, if you can't bat, you will not win games of cricket - and England have barely batted in these first three Tests.

Just look at their totals: 147, 297, 236, 192, 185 and 68. It is not good enough.

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Neither is it anything new. We have known about England's batting frailties for a long time and now the manner of this defeat should bring into focus the way their batsmen are prepared for Test cricket.

We have often debated the negative impact that the domestic structure is having on the technique of England's batsmen.

This latest humbling in Australia should serve as incontrovertible evidence that it is not fit for purpose.

The County Championship has been marginalised to the fringes of the season for the convenience of playing more limited-overs cricket. The ability to produce a solid defence has given way to the desire to hit ramps, scoops and towering sixes.

The message from the authorities is the shortest formats are the only interesting or exciting versions of cricket.

If that is the way they are trying to lure the public, then so too will players be seduced because they will think it is the future of the game.

I'm not for one second playing down the importance of T20 cricket or The Hundred. The shorter formats should be used to fund the more traditional elements of the game.

And, of course, the Australians have their own domestic one-day competitions, but not nearly the amount of limited-overs matches that are played in the UK.

The long-term consequence of the County Championship being pushed to the beginning and end of the summer means English batsmen have very little opportunity to play in conditions remotely similar to what they might encounter in Test cricket. The step-up is then so alien they might as well be playing a different sport.

It is not only the longer-term factors that have led England to this defeat.

Even before the complications presented by Covid, the tourists planned to prepare for this tour in isolation, playing matches among themselves, rather than taking on Australian state or domestic opposition.

Then, when you throw in the issues that have arisen because of Covid, primarily the lack of cricket between Tests for players to find form, it creates a vicious circle.

Batsmen go into Tests underprepared, so they struggle. However, the reserves are not in a position to replace them because they have not had any cricket.

It leads to the situation we saw with Zak Crawley in Melbourne. He came in to replace Rory Burns having not played anything meaningful since September.

Crawley was pushed out to take on a revved-up Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, and asked to survive a torrid final hour on the second day in a cauldron fuelled by a rowdy crowd.

Of course he failed. What chance did he really have?

England are facing two more Tests. Two more opportunities to register their first Test win down under in a decade, two more chances to avoid a whitewash.

Root looked exhausted when I spoke to him after the Melbourne loss. Will he want to continue as captain? It may depend on how these two matches go.

Crucially, his batting is not being affected, yet he may decide he has had enough. There does not seem to be an obvious option to replace him, but that is not Root's problem.

As for Silverwood, his role as coach and chief selector needs to be looked at. I have never liked the idea of a 'supremo', and the need for ideas from elsewhere is certainly more apparent than ever.

Might we be seeing the last of players such as Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow in the Test arena? There will be talk of a clearout, but replacements have to be better than what you have already got.

I'm sure Stuart Broad will sit down and think whether he wants to continue. He and James Anderson would love a farewell, waving to the crowds, but sport rarely offers room for sentimentality. If Broad feels his time has come, he will make that decision.

There is also the spectre of Covid hanging over the remaining two Tests, with positive cases among the England group.

Cricket Australia are bullish about the tour being completed and I'm still fairly sure they will manage to get the players to the fourth Test in Sydney, then on to Hobart for the finale.

After three heavy defeats, facing the prospect of a whitewash and with careers on the line, avoiding Covid is one more pressure to heap on the battered tourists.

Jonathan Agnew was talking to BBC Sport chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt