After England's innings ended in the 18th over with a farcical run-out, former England captains Michael Vaughan tweeted: "That sums it up.... #Garbage".

Referring to that match, and the 'minnows' traditional bright orange shirts - colors adopted by England this tournament - Michael Atherton said: "(England have been) tangoed again. Unbelievable.

- 'Total disintegration' -

"This is a team that is totally shot of confidence," the former opener added.

"This was bad - total disintegration in the Ashes, and a lack of improvement in the one-day game as well."

Former England coach David Lloyd was scathing about England's latest in a line of dreadful displays. "We have been diabolical all winter ... we can't get any worse than this," Lloyd said. "Brainless, shameful, totally unacceptable."

Former England left-arm spinner Ashley Giles insisted he was still the right man to take the side forward. "I believed I was 24 hours ago, and I'm not sure that one performance has changed my mind," he said. "You get bad days at the office, and this is a really bad one ... but I still believe I can do the job for England."

And Giles had one friend, of a sort, in leading British bookmaker William Hill, who even after Monday's defeat still made him the 4-6 favorite to succeed Andy Flower. "England cricket is a shambles at present and apart from Ashley, we cannot see anyone else wanting the job," said Hills spokesman Rupert Adams.

(China Daily 04/02/2014 page24)