Australia outplayed by 'complete' England: Watson

Australia's Shane Watson says the touring England side is one of the most complete in the game as they marched ominously towards an Ashes series-clinching victory against the "totally outplayed" hosts on Thursday.

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England are three wickets away from a first series triumph in Australia in 24 years after day four of the fifth and final Test with Australia 2-1 down in the series and still trailing by 151 runs.

"There's no doubt we've let ourselves down in the way that we've played," Watson said.

"But there's no doubt as well that the English have played extremely well.

"The last two games the way they've bowled, they've made the most of all conditions whether it's seaming and swinging, or going reverse and turning.

"They've been outstanding the way they've bowled. When they've batted, they've made the most of nice batting conditions. "Hats off to them. They've played unbelievably well. Unfortunately for us, we haven't played up to our standard at all, really."

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Watson was in the Australian side that lost two Tests in India before the Ashes series and the 29-year-old said the England side compared favourably with the top ranked Test side.

"They're very good," he said. "There's no doubt, India in their conditions have got an unbelievably balanced team. But the way the English have played here in all facets has been very impressive.

"The way they've stood up, all of their players really, throughout this whole series has been very impressive. The Australian team unfortunately hasn't done that.

"As a group we were trying to rebuild after Melbourne," he added. "We still had so much to play for in this game. Unfortunately, we've been totally outplayed again."

Australia lost by an innings in Adelaide and again last week in Melbourne and are face a third drubbing by a similar margin on Friday morning.

"It's not great, is it?" Watson said. "In the end, we are doing our absolute best and it hasn't been good enough. Losing so far by two innings is not good at all.

"It means we've been convincingly outplayed in two Test matches so far, and it's not looking great for tomorrow as well."