LONDON. Dec 31: Englands cricketers must be glad they are on the other side of the world — it means they do not have to read about their latest shameful display in Friday s British newspapers, reports Reuter The tourists are lashed following their humiliating sec ond Test defeat In Melbourne.

Captain Mike Atherton comes in for plenty of criticism which sparks descrip ttons of his side as "pathetic and "a disgrace

Under Dally Mail headlines "No pride, no guts, no con test." former batting legend Dqnnls Compton expresses his disgust at the lark of Backbone shown as they collapsed to 92 all out and an embarrassing 295 run defeat

T have never known anything like It." he says "They are a disgrace to the nation. It was the worst cricket humilia tlbn I can remember ''

Former England captain Bob Wlffls whose 325 wickets put him second In his court try s all time list behind Ion Botham Is equally damning

England don/t acem to hair trie stomach lo gri stuck in they were abaolulety pa thrUc and English cricket is really on the rack raiw hr

Alan Lee of The Times writes "Die Aalw-e may not ex en quite their old dominanrr over the expanding global gaii>e Out lo an Engiishinan they remain the eaaenual

gauge of cricket s national health.

"After the shattering events of Thursday. the present England team can be assessed as in the worst condition of any this century." ,

The Star says Atherton is all set to quit as skipper at the end of the tour

"He has been shattered by his side's spineless perfor mances Down Under and 1 be Heve he fully Intends to step down In 39 days time " writes Mike Beale

"That's how long this tour of shame still has to run. And unless there is a dramatic Im provement in performance and application — which is hard io Imagine — he will say Find another captain '

The Sun shows Atherton beneath a huge banner portray Ing the Ashes under the bead Une: "ft s too big for you. pal "

Writing in the Daily Telegraph. Christopher Martin-Jenkins claims the malaise In English cricket goes right down to Its roots

< rlckrl in (Britain! from lint torn to top is so tar than ll la in Australia hr said

Finally an<1 helpfully per haps the Dally Mirrors bark page tarries a < ut out mask advising readers to wear It wtreriever an England batsman strides to the wlckrl

The tally way to wait h what la dulls the worst learn in the world is with your ryes r fosetd the paper says

Meanwhile Ah adds AthertiMl said Saturday lie will nae above the barrage of trill

cism he and his team have received after its poor display in the second Assies test in Melbourne.

"You are aware of what's being said but it's all about be ing strong and digging deep." Atherton said "I've been In worse situations in the past year and I ve come through I Just lx>pe I can do it again here in Sydney "

You go through those periods where vou re pretty depressed about It and then you wake up and It s a fresh day and you feel renewed determl- ’ nation

Englapd have won only one of their last 21 Ashes Tests against Australia In the Melbourne Test, they tost 11 -6 tn 12.4 over to be bowled out for 92 runs In their second In nings.

Atherton decided against catling a training session of Friday ,M,d gave the squad a day off prompting more rritlclani from British journalists on the