Under-fire Ricky Ponting backed by Aussie chief

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Ponting is the first Aussie captain to lose twice in England since Billy Murdoch in the 19th century and he is expecting to come under scrutiny after the defeat also stripped Australia of No1 status in the Test rankings.

"I think that's completely unfair," Sutherland said in Melbourne, when asked about the calls for Ponting to lose the captaincy.

"Of course we'd prefer to win but I thought Ricky held himself very well in the difficult situation of losing the Ashes."

Since the retirements of star players Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist, the Aussies have suffered three defeats in the past five Test series.

Sutherland said: "I don't think Cricket Australia is under any illusions. We're definitely in a rebuilding phase after losing some of the best players to ever play cricket for Australia. What you get with a young and relatively inexperienced team is ebbs and flows in performance and we saw a little bit of that in this series."

Sutherland also defended Australia's selection panel after former players criticised them for failing to pick a specialist spinner for the final Test on a sun-baked pitch that showed turn from day one.

"Sack the selectors," was the clarion call led by ex-Australian batsman Michael Slater and captain Ian Chapell.

But Sutherland added: "We've lost the game by nearly 200 runs and having a spinner in the side wouldn't have helped us in the first innings where we were bowled out for 160 and effectively lost the game. I don't think that in any way we can hold the selectors accountable for us losing.

"For now, we lick our wounds and we really look forward to the opportunity in 2010-11."

Having been the cricket world's unremitting bully-boy for nearly two decades, Australia have been brought down to earth with a thud and their newspapers reflect their national mister.

"Ashes agony," the Age groaned, next to a picture of a downcast Ponting and Michael Clarke holding his head in his hands.

"Poms steamroll Aussies to claim Ashes," the Herald Sun said.

"Let the inquisition begin," the Australian said.