UK view: England suffer most demoralising day this century at WACA Ground on Sunday An injury to leading wicket taker Stuart Broad and a ton from David Warner has given Australia a sniff of Ashes series glory after Day Three of the Third Test at the WACA. Matt Prior (L) had a miserable day behind the stumps on Sunday. THE most demoralising display this century. England's Ashes demise was chronicled in gory detail across the media spectrum after day three at the WACA Ground, but none summed up the historical context of the tourists' capitulation in Perth quite like Scyld Berry. Writing in The Telegraph, the former Wisden editor critiqued every member of England's XI and found few reasons for cheer. Indeed, Berry suggested England's calamitous tour of Australia may be the worst of the modern professional era. "The third day of this third Test arguably surpassed the last day of the Adelaide Test in 2006-7 as England's most demoralising this century - since the advent of the national academy, central contracts, Duncan Fletcher, and methodical planning," Berry wrote. Having been pulverised and pulped by Australia's bowlers, and then David Warner, none of the England players were in a fit state to make any sort of presentation after close of play. The mood was similar over at The Sun with John Etheridge taking aim at England's "spineless" display. If losing their most successful bowler of the series was not bad enough, England produced an abject, spineless, error-strewn performance that succeeded only in demonstrating the gulf between the two teams. It was the day the wheels well and truly came flying off. Only a miracle will stop the Ashes ending up in Aussie hands this winter - and England are not currently in the mood for miracles. Sharing his colleagues' national shame was Paul Newman of The Daily Mail who turned back the clock over the last four years to show just how far - and quickly - England had fallen. Newman likened Andy Flower's side to "bullied schoolchildren" who simply did not have the heart to fight back. "And it is not so much the fact that a rejuvenated Australia are outplaying the holders in every department that is so galling but the painful truth that one of England's best teams in years do not seem to have the stomach for the fight," Newman wrote. They are giving away their wickets far too cheaply, are not playing with any of the professionalism and discipline that have been their hallmarks under Andy Flower and have the air of schoolchildren being bullied into giving up. This is not the England team that won the last three Ashes series, the World Twenty20 and two Test series against India home and, famously, away. This, it now seems certain, is a team in decline and one lacking the heart to fight back. Former England captain Nasser Hussain decided to focus his attention on keeper Matt Prior, who endured one of his worst days in Test cricket on Sunday. "From what I've seen so far in this Test, they just have a sloppy feel to them," Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail. You often look at the wicketkeeper as a barometer of a team's spirits, and Matthew Prior's game has summed it up - a loose dismissal and a couple of missed stumpings. That doesn't mean, however, that I'd recommend wholesale changes. Some of these guys - Cook, Pietersen, Bell, Prior, Jimmy Anderson - will go down as all-time England greats. There is talent in this team. The Mirror's Oliver Holt also chronicled England's rapid fall from grace, and gave the visitors little chance of defying the odds and batting out a draw on a deteriorating WACA ground pitch. "This was simply a desperate day for England, a day when they were utterly outplayed by Australia in every single department," Holt wrote. A day when they were pulverized. A day for wondering what the hell happened to the team we used to be so proud of. It is sobering to remember that only a couple of months ago, England landed here fully expecting to retain the Ashes and retain them comfortably. This is a modest Australian side after all, hard-working, hungry and committed but hardly Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Ponting and Steve Waugh. And yet England have made them look like world beaters in the three Tests they have played here, never more so than today. It is hard to imagine now that there can be any chance of salvation for England in the two days that lie ahead. If Australia declare at lunchtime tomorrow, it is likely they will have a lead of close to 500 and five sessions in which to bowl England out. In the not so distant past, there might have been a glimmer of hope that England could stave off defeat. But that was when we were kings.