By James Standley

England have been whitewashed in the Ashes and the thrashing has been greeted with much wailing and gnashing of teeth back home.

Andrew Flintoff's side have been criticised for their poor performances but perhaps the post-mortem fails to take proper account of just how good a team Australia are.

Here BBC Sport looks at the factors behind Australia's success.

After their defeat in 2005 Australia went away and refocused on the job in hand.

Australia were a tight-knit unit from the start of the series

Shane Warne may not have been overly impressed by Australia's team-bonding boot-camp in the Queensland outback in August but as a statement of intent it spoke volumes.

Some of the all-time greats of the game may not exactly have suffered but they at least experienced extreme discomfort in the pursuit of excellence, and their hard edge was apparent from the off.

And even Warne admitted the four-day trip had "brought the guys a lot closer together".

It is one of the game's intangibles but all too apparent when it is not there, and from the first delivery of the series when Steve Harmison's radar so spectacularly mis-fired it has been clear which side had it.

England's lack of intensity was most apparent in the second Test in Adelaide, when they somehow contrived to lose after scoring 551-6 in the first innings.

In their second innings they seemed baffled by the situation and the Australians exploited the situation ruthlessly.

The tourists lost nine wickets for 60 in 43 overs as they were all out for 129.

Most sides would have written off the game as a draw, but given a sniff of a chance Australia pounced.

Throughout the series the Aussies bowled to a plan, their fielding was excellent and they never let high standards drop for more than a moment - would that England could say the same.

This Australian side is one of the finest the game has ever seen - in the modern era, only the awesome West Indies side of the 1980s is held in the same regard.

Australia won 10 Tests out of 10 in 2006, they are number one in the world Test rankings by a distance, Warne is the leading Test wicket-taker of all time, with Glenn McGrath third in the list.

Some more stats: Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and Michael Clarke ended the year third, fourth and fifth in the batting averages for 2006.

Ponting averages 59.29 in Tests, Matthew Hayden 53.00, wicketkeeper Gilchrist 48.66.

And since his debut in March 2006 Stuart Clark has taken 47 wickets at a superb 17.80.

Australia also had home advantage and in the decade leading up to the Ashes, Australia had won 16 out of 18 home series.

While England were unfortunate to lose key players in the likes of Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Simon Jones, Australia strengthened their side from the 2005 series.

In the intervening 18 months Hussey and Clark were both added to the Australian team and they starred in the Ashes.

Hussey led the batting averages, contributing 458 runs at 91.6 in the series, while Clark led the bowling averages and was the leading wicket-taker with 26 victims at 17.03.

Australia also rejigged their back-room team, with the capture of bowling coach Troy Cooley a significant arrival.

Cooley was credited with having a major impact on England's bowlers in the last series and when the ECB dithered over a long-term contract Australia snapped him up.

His recruitment was a statement of intent that the hosts were leaving nothing to chance.

Having a side packed with talented individuals is a plus, creating an environment where they all contribute is a must and something England managed in 2005.

This time it was Australia who performed as a unit, with seven players contributing centuries and four taking over 20 wickets.

In 2005, Gilchrist was shown to be mortal as England's bowlers, especially Flintoff, attacked him around the wicket with a consistent line outside off-stump, probing for the edge.

They tried the same this time but were unable to exert the same control and in Perth Gilchrist blazed his way to a 57-ball ton, the second-fastest Test century of all time.

All-rounder Andrew Symonds, handed his chance by Damien Martyn's retirement, hit his maiden Test century in Melbourne.

Just as England only used 12 players in 2005 so Australia only used 12 this time round, with Symonds for Martyn their only change.

In England's 2005 triumph the "Freddie factor" was hugely significant.

Australia captain Ponting was the leading run scorer in the Ashes

This time round Flintoff was hampered by injury and the burdens of captaincy, while Ponting was sharper tactically and comprehensively out-played him as well.

Ponting opened up with 196 in the first Test to set the tone and the Australia captain was the leading run scorer with 576 at 82.28

So just how much of this whitewash has been down to Australian brilliance as opposed to English ineptitude?

That there has been plenty of the latter is beyond doubt, both in terms of selection as well as performance, but to downplay Australia's excellence would be to do them a disservice.

They fired from the very start, never lost their intensity and everyone on the team contributed.

The only consolation for England fans is that Australia are packed with over-30s and Warne, McGrath and Langer will not be the only faces missing the next time the two teams meet in 2009.