Malcolm Conn and John Etheridge debate England's chances of regaining some dignity in Sydney Alastair Cook looks dejected as Michael Clarke shakes the hand of Kevin Pietersen. CAN England regain some dignity before returning home after losing the first four Tests of the Australian leg of the Ashes? News Corp Australia chief cricket writer Malcolm Conn previews the Sydney Test with his counterpart from London's The Sun, John Etheridge. John Etheridge: England are 4-0 down so I guess it's probably reached the time where it's only right to say that Australia have completely dominated this series, played some fantastic cricket and thoroughly deserve to be 4-0 ahead. Malcolm Conn: Well that must have been a fairly painful experience. I must admit it's quite remarkable that a team that could win the Ashes 3-0 in England can come out a few months later and play such diabolically bad cricket. I don't know whether they've been found to be technically inadequate on Australian pitches or whether they've been scared of Mitchell Johnson or whether Kevin Pietersen's ego has suffocated them all. But whatever it is, it's been a staggering turnaround. JE: It's been remarkable. I think Johnson has without question been the dominant personality of the series. He's bowled very fast, very aggressively and England have looked at best apprehensive against him. I think the success of the other bowlers has followed on from Johnson's lead and even though Australia's batting has got a vulnerability about it, Johnson's brilliance has meant that England have never been able to score enough runs to put pressure really on. Other players - obviously Brad Haddin rode his luck but he's a great fighter at number seven and has turned the Aussie innings around on several occasions. David Warner, not the most popular guy with the England players, but his counter-attacking batting as well. All the star performers have been wearing baggy green caps. MC: There's no question that Brad Haddin's series has just been phenomenal. For someone who's 36 years old at an age when all the great wicketkeepers of the modern era retired, to be playing so well... If it hadn't been for him, if he'd had the tour that Prior's had, then it could be very different because Australia have vulnerable batting, we've seen that in three of the four first innings in this series. Haddin's played some marvellous innings with the lower order and taken the game away from England. It's a shame Matt Prior hasn't been able to do the same thing for England. JE: You're absolutely right. England in all four of the games so far has had Australia in a little bit of trouble in their first innings but Haddin in particular has led the recovery. I think generally England have been timid. Their squad was poorly selected - they picked three giant fast bowlers who have played one Test between them - and they've looked very timid and they've been poorly led. I think Alastair Cook's had a pretty poor series as captain, he's not got an instinctive feel for captaincy. He can't predict how the game's going to go, he's unable to look two or three overs ahead. And I think he's got to have a bit more mongrel about him as captain as well, sometimes you have to get cross and get angry with your teammates. It's not his natural personality but I think he's got to learn to do that and be a bit more streetwise and a bit more Mr Nasty in the dressing room. MC: Do you think that England's been caught by the fact that they tend to win - certainly they won against Australia earlier in the year - playing boring cricket? Where they figure that if they can hang on long enough Australia will do something stupid like have a bad batting collapse or a bad bowling spell and the game will open up for England, rather than being proactive and taking the game on? Now that Australia has found a bit more confidence and self belief, their aggressive nature seems just to have run right over England who haven't been able to counter attack. JE: I think that's right. Certainly with the ball, England's had a lot of success with bowling dry as they call it these days, suffocating the run rate and pressurising batsmen into making mistakes. But right from the start, probably under the instructions of Darren Lehmann, the Aussie batsmen targeted James Anderson and particularly Graeme Swann. They targeted Graeme Swann to such an extent that he retired with two Tests of the series still remaining. I do think that 10 back-to-back Ashes Tests is a mistake. I think Ashes Tests are special, they should stand alone, and I think England has been disadvantaged by being the away team in the second of these back-to-back series. That's no excuse, Australia have been utterly dominant. But I do think it's something that must never be repeated. MC: I must admit I thought exactly the same thing, until about day three in Brisbane where I thought this isn't so bad after all. It's got better with every passing Test match. From an entirely Australian selfish point-of-view I'm actually delighted that it was back-to-back so we were able to take the urn back after a fairly difficult couple of months in England. I just wondered, before the 2015 series in England should we send a few hoses over to the groundsmen so they can get some water into their pitches or do you think they'll be drying them out now for that series. JE: I'm glad you mentioned 2015 because I've been looking at your Australian team and I think most of your blokes are going to be pensioned off by then. Chris Rogers would have gone, along with Haddin, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson will probably be gone - he'll certainly be down on pace or the radar will be malfunctioning by then - Michael Clarke's chronic back injury, he might be gone by then, Shane Watson likewise and George Bailey, although you probably won't regard that as much of a loss. So six or seven of this team will either have disappeared from Australia's ranks or be much reduced in their effectiveness. MC: I'm actually delighted we've been able to win the Ashes back with what's been a second-string bowling attack. I'm looking forward to going to the Ashes in 2015 with a fully fit James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird and Patrick Cummins who collectively could be four of the best fast bowlers who have ever played together for Australia. If they can all stand up, your guys have only had a taste of what's coming to you. JE: They should ask to borrow Ryan Harris' sticking tape or whatever held him together, because they're injury prone. None of them will cause quite such the intimidation as Mitch Johnson. MC: If Pattinson gets it right I wouldn't underestimate him. Anyway it's been an absolute pleasure having you here and I hope to say that after Sydney when it's 5-0. JE: All I can offer in return is England win in Sydney and it's 4-4.