JOHANNESBURG, Jan 10: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has urged England not to panic following their Ashes whitewash by Australia. English cricket chiefs have already launched a major review of performances in Australia following the team's 5-0 series defeat this winter.

"I certainly don't think England should panic. They should get back to the drawing board and work harder," Woolmer told the BBC's Asian Network. "They've got some very good cricketers and an excellent coach."

Woolmer, who has been touted to replace Duncan Fletcher as England coach, added: "The most important thing is to sit down, work out what went wrong and how it went wrong, and then try and put those things right and build for the future."

The 58-year-old former England Test batsman said he thought the way the respective teams had reacted in the aftermath England's 2005 Ashes victory had been crucial to their current fortunes.

"A lot went on after the 2005 series," he said. “England weren't able to build on that and it went backwards a little bit. Australia were able to build and find out where they went wrong and came hard at England."

Yet Woolmer added that the series could have been "very different" had England not capitulated on the final day of the second Test in Adelaide.

He is currently in South Africa preparing his side for the upcoming Test series against the Proteas. He is a former South Africa coach and was in the running for the England job before Fletcher was chosen in 1999.—Agencies