THE England cricket captain has apologised to fans after Australia regained the Ashes in a 5-0 series whitewash.

Alastair Cook's side were bowled out for 166 in their second innings to confirm a 281-run win for their rivals at the end an embarrassing campaign Down Under.

The captain apologised to the fans who had travelled to the other side of the world only to see their team "hit rock bottom".

"It's tough knowing you've played in five games and been beaten badly in five games," he told the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

"We weren't good enough to turn it around. When you hit rock bottom the only way is up. We have to look at ourselves, look at where we want to go.

"We have a huge amount of talent in England. We haven't shown it in these five games."

Talking directly to the fans he added: "I'm sorry we've let you down, we haven't played very well but we really do appreciate your support."

At the end of the fifth and final test England were bowled out for a just 166 runs inside 32 overs to be thrashed by 281 runs in Sydney, at one stage losing four wickets in 11 balls.

Ben Stokes was a success story of England's shocking winter, batting on a different plane to his team-mates.

Even Australian captain Michael Clarke admitted he couldn't have imagined winning all five tests against England.

It's the second time in three away Ashes series that England has lost all five test matches, the last time in 2006/2007 when Australia were deemed a much stronger side.

To add insult to injury, the result saw Australia leapfrog England in the International Cricket Council rankings as Cook's men slipped to fourth.