Sacked Australian coach Mickey Arthur has claimed that Michael Clarke's men had travelled to England without having any actual plan to win the Ashes.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Arthur, whose contract was terminated days before the first Test at Trent Bridge, had reached a settlement with Cricket Australia of a reported 600,000 dollars after taking action against the body, following his dumping with two years to run on his contract.
Stating that the developing Australian side did not go into the series without any belief that they could win the Ashes, Arthur said that they had planned to simply use the first leg of back-to-back series against England as an information and confidence gathering mission ahead of the return encounter at Australia starting in November.
According to Arthur, they had to take the pain now to get rewarded at the end of the day, adding that they had planned to try and push hard the Ashes hosts at their home ground, and then win at Australia.
However, Arthur also said that they did not go into the series to lose every single game, adding that the Australian team had planned to push England close and give their players the confidence that that it is possible to beat England.
Meanwhile, Arthur, who has taken a job as director of cricket at a school in Perth, has denied feeling vindicated by Australia's failings against England over the past six weeks.