Panesar: team spirit remains

Monty Panesar © Getty Images

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Monty Panesar insists England's squad still have enough spirit to summon a performance in the final Test and avoid an Ashes whitewash.

The Northamptonshire left-arm spinner was part of the side that slumped to an innings and 99 runs defeat in only three days in Melbourne and have had precious little time to recover before the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

But Panesar claims there is still enough resolve within the squad to bounce back and prevent Australia claiming a whitewash for the first time since 1920-21.

"We as a team want to show a good performance in this last Test match and most importantly we don't want a whitewash - that's all we're geared to," stressed Panesar.

"It's Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath's last Test match so that is another incentive to do well against legends of the game, but most importantly we don't want to go down five-nil.

"It's disappointing the way the Ashes have gone, but the mood in the camp is still positive. We are all disappointed but we're not down and there are a lot of characters in our team.

"One of England's strengths is we always come back from these sort of situations. As a team we're still very positive, there is still plenty of energy in the camp and we're still upbeat about the next game coming up."

England are yet to make a decision about their final line-up but they may consider playing Panesar alongside Middlesex off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple, who was drafted into the squad when Ashley Giles was forced home to be with his sick wife.

If England do decide to field two spinners it will the first time they have done so in Australia since Eddie Hemmings and Phil Tufnell shared 12 wickets in a drawn match at the SCG in 1991.