LONDON, Jan 5: England cricket chiefs on Friday ordered a far-reaching probe into why Andrew Flintoff’s side were humiliated in the Ashes series in Australia.

Within hours of the Australians wrapping up a 5-0 series victory, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years, David Collier, the Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), had ordered a comprehensive review of what went wrong Down Under.

The ECB's Director of England Cricket, John Carr, has been ordered to report back next month, ahead of the World Cup in the West Indies in March. “The performance in the Ashes has been a great disappointment and a number of lessons must be learned,” Collier admitted. “This review will be comprehensive and broad-ranging with the clear objective of regaining the Ashes in 2009 and significantly improving England's results in One-day International cricket in the next four-year cycle.”

The ECB statement added: “The ECB directors present in Sydney met informally on January 4 to consider a proposal for a comprehensive review of the process, programme and structure of Team England.

“This discussion followed the circulation of a paper by the ECB chief executive David Collier on December 29, 2006.

“The vision for the review was defined as: To determine how Team England performances during the period 2003-2007 should be improved in order that England regain the Ashes in 2009 and win an ICC global one-day event during the period 2007-2011,” the statement added. —AFP