England great slammed for claiming World Cup failure was because of Ashes fatigue – despite the fact Australia has reached the finals

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has been slammed by Australian cricket fans after suggesting his country would be bombed out of the World Cup due to Ashes fatigue.

England came into the ICC World Cup as reigning champions but bombed terribly with just three wins in the tournament so far.

Their World Cup has been so poor that England now face the potential embarrassment of missing out on the Champions Trophy tournament for the world’s top eight ODI nations.

Hussain, who is now a Mail Sport commentator and columnist, has raised several eyebrows for linking their failure to The Ashes, despite Australia also playing in that Test series and reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup.

“It is difficult for England because of the timing of World Cups based on an Ashes series,” the former England captain said.

‘There is so much focus on the Ashes at the end of it that you are mentally exhausted.

“You look at players like Chris Woakes and Mark Wood and both were mentally and physically exhausted. So it’s about planning across different formats.’

Former England skipper Nasser Hussain believes his country’s woes stem from a taxing Ashes series

Mark Wood responds with another defeat at the ICC World Championship, with England’s Championship Trophy hopes on the line

Australia not only played the same hard-fought Ashes series as England, but also played the final of the World Test Championship before that.

England also had the luxury of playing at home, while Australia has been largely on the road since last summer.

Ex-Australian Test and ODI cricketer Damien Martyn led the criticism, sharing a post with Hussein’s comments and adding: “The hits keep rolling… It has to be someone else’s fault at the World Cup.”

He accompanied his post with a series of laughing and goofy face emojis.

Australian fans were also quick to criticize Hussein’s comments.

“Australia traveled halfway around the world to play in the Ashes, it didn’t seem to affect them,” one fan commented.

“Just checking… wasn’t it the same Australian team that played in the Ashes and India or were all those sleepless nights just a figment of my imagination?” added another.

‘That’s why Australia didn’t finish at the top of the rankings. They are mentally exhausted for the Test Championship game and the Ashes series,” said one fan sarcastically.

“It is tiring to carry the moral responsibility of world cricket on your shoulders. But don’t worry, you’ll be setting yourself up for a win anyway,” another added, referring to Piers Morgan’s comments during The Ashes.

While many comments were critical of Hussein, some cricket fans supported his point.

“Stokes literally put his body through hell to make this team competitive,” one person wrote.

Ben Stokes played in The Ashes and came out of limited-overs cricket retirement to play in the World Cup

Other Ashes players like Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson were not even part of the ODI squad to participate in the World Cup

Hussain believes that a ‘reset’ of the white ball is needed in English cricket, just as the Bazball concept was applied to the Test cricket system.

“There was a white ball reset under (former captain Eoin) Morgan,” he said.

‘Then there was a red ball reset under Stokes. What we could actually do is a reset across the board, and that is what Indian cricket is doing very well.

‘We must give every format of the entire process the same amount of care and attention.

‘It’s difficult for England with the timing of a lot of these World Cups at the end of the summer, so it’s about never taking your eye off any format because if you do, the teams will pass you if you thinks you are doing well.

“But that’s not easy when you have so many players playing all the time.”