Waugh tells England to 'give us a game'

As much as the Australians love to win they hate to do it without their prey putting up a bit of a fight. After yesterday's latest Ashes waltz here – when England were beaten inside three days by an innings and 48 runs to concede an irrecoverable 3-0 lead to their hosts – this was a fact Australia's captain, Steve Waugh, was bemoaning.

Since winning the series in 1986-87, England have only won one Test against Australia while the series was still alive, the 1997 first Test triumph at Edgbaston. Waugh said: "We'd like to play a tough series. The last one we had was India and even though we lost we felt satisfied with it. Some of the series we have had have felt a little hollow and we would like to come up against a side that makes it tough to win."

Waugh believes the problem for England does not lie in the criticised domestic structure. "There's nothing wrong with county cricket," said Waugh, who spent part of last season with Kent. "If people want to blame county cricket then they are looking for an easy excuse. There are a few guys in it with the talent and temperament and it's just a matter of getting those guys together and having a bit of faith in them."

Waugh's is an argument that Nasser Hussain concurs with. "If we want to win the Ashes back we need to have a good look at everything not just the top 10 or 15 players in our country," the England captain said. "You can't just put the blame on county cricket because it's a lot deeper than that. We need to look at the type of wickets, the type of bowlers we're producing, the climate and everything. When was the last time we produced a high-quality wrist spinner or a pace bowler running in at you on a great cricket wicket like that at the WACA?

"In England the moment it gets flat people want to change things, but they're the type of wickets you need to play on because it produces cricketers like you saw out there."