England beware - Chris Tremlett admits he is suffering from a severe case of Ashes déjà vu

Exclusive interview: Tremlett fears the current tour is unravelling in a painfully similar manner to the whitewash of 2013/14, with events off the pitch damaging England as much as events on it

Chris Tremlett has been watching events Down Under with a keen eye (Getty)

Chris Tremlett is suffering a severe case of déjà vu – and that’s bad news for England as they prepare to take on Australia at a venue they haven’t won at since 1978.

Tremlett was part of the victorious Ashes squad of 2010/11 and the not-so-successful side of 2013/14, when England were thrashed 5-0.

That series started poorly in Brisbane and went downhill quicker than Franz Klammer as Jonathan Trott flew home, Graeme Swann retired and Kevin Pietersen became an increasingly solitary figure in the England squad.

Now, after just two Tests, Tremlett fears that the current tour is unravelling in a painfully similar manner, with events off the pitch damaging England as much as events on it.

Flying pints and insults combined with a talisman playing his cricket in New Zealand with his career in the hands of the CPS have made for a nightmare tour.

And a trip to the WACA is unlikely to do anything to put that right.

“You get to Perth knowing that it’s almost an impossible place to win against the Aussies,” says Tremlett.

“You go three nil down and it’s all over. When that happens, things can unravel pretty quickly as we saw on the last tour.

“We played pretty well there in 2010/11 and we still got annihilated - that just shows how difficult it is to play at the WACA.

“It is a good wicket but, in world terms, it’s probably the one that’s most foreign to English conditions. If the bowlers don’t get their lengths right then it can be a batting paradise.

“When guys like David Warner get in they can open up their shoulders and score freely at a run a ball. The game can get away from you very quickly. We played some really good cricket seven years ago and we got absolutely destroyed by them. I don’t think this side has much chance of winning at all there.”

Tremlett was part of the England squad that were thrashed 5-0 Down Under (Getty)

That’s hardly music to England’s ears but, in truth, the fat lady has been clearing her voice since that now infamous night in Bristol back in September.

Back then, in the throes of early Autumn, England still appeared to have a decent chance against a far from infallible Australian side. Now, in the chill of the English winter, the odds are frozen on another whitewash for Steve Smith’s team.

For some members of the England team, the sun could also be setting on international careers as ill-discipline and a series of schoolboy scrapes have turned this side into a laughing stock.

“When the series is over then it’s very difficult, particularly for the senior players, to get up for two matches that are effectively meaningless,” says Tremlett.

England are 2-0 down after the opening two Tests (Getty Images)

“There were moments on the last tour when things became a bit of a shambles, it just turned into a horrible mess. This tour has the potential to go exactly the same way with everything bubbling under the surface. There are incidents that keep cropping up and I think people are losing patience with the team.

“It can be very frustrating because a lot of these incidents are just silly little things that would ignored if England were winning games. England keep giving the media stories and it winds people up. As a player you know it’s innocent and you’re not really doing much wrong – we’re all human beings at the end of the day and you want to go out and have a bit of fun.

“For people back home, though, they want to see these players doing all they can to get back in to the series. I think you saw that with Moeen when he was doing his press duties at the weekend. He wants to talk about cricket, he doesn’t want to be stood there talking about things that have happened in a bar in Perth. That can create friction in the team as well.”

Moeen's attitude impressed Tremlett (Getty)

England bowled Australia out for 268 in their first innings back in December 2010 but still managed to lose the game by 267 runs – a match which saw Tremlett take eight wickets, including a five wicket haul in the Aussies’ second innings.

Last time out it was marginally closer, thanks to Ben Stokes’ first Test century. The result, though, was still a resounding 150 run thumping.

That hundred was the most recent recorded by an England batsman on Australian soil.

That will need to change if England are to alter the course of both this series and history. The cracks in this England side, however, are already as wide as the ones that adorn the WACA’s famously quick pitch.

The chances are they’re about to get a whole lot bigger.