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ADELAIDE, Monday (Reuters) England captain Nasser Hussain conceded on Sunday his team were facing the humiliation of a 5-0 series loss after being crushed by an innings in the second Ashes test on Sunday.

Hussain said the prospects of England avoiding a series whitewash were bleak unless his players suddenly started playing better against a red-hot Australia side.

"I anticipate them wanting to beat us 5-0, they'll be completely cut-throat, they'll show no mercy at all," Hussain said.

"The old days of teams turning up and thinking this game doesn't matter, we'll win 4-1 or whatever, are gone, that's not the Australian side we're playing against at the moment.

"Unless we improve we'll get beaten." But, in an equally blunt admission, Hussain said England had no real idea how they could stop the Australians and the best they could hope for was to try and copy what they did."I don't think there's any disgrace at having a look at the best side in the world and trying to learn from them," Hussain said.

"I'm not asking each of our bowlers to be Glenn McGrath or our batsmen to be Ricky Ponting, I'm just asking them to improve their disciplines.

"It comes down to technique and ability. It's a simple game that everyone else makes complicated.

"If you look at the way Glenn McGrath sets up his over or the way Ponting bats, it's not a mental thing, it's a technical, positive thing.

"I just have to repeat what I said after the last test match, 'if you don't get your disciplines right here you'll just get blown away'."

Hussain scoffed at suggestions his team were psyched out by the reputations of Australia's players, sarcastically suggesting they had a mental edge over the entire cricketing world.

"I think Australia have a psychological stranglehold on the world of cricket at the moment and everyone else should just pack their coffins up and go home," he said.

"The truth is, how you play the game of cricket is how we're being outplayed.

"There's no great mind games people on their side and there's none on our side, it's just a technical ability thing.

"I just hope that people in the dressing room don't get too defeated by what they read and listen to and what they've done so far.

"They've got to try and pick themselves up and try and win little battles, maybe not look at the big picture, just try and win their own little personal battle.

"We've got to try and win sessions, things like that, you just carried away with everything else that's going on and we just need to look at the real basics of the game."

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