Australia vice-captain Brad Haddin has said that England's fielding in the fourth Test was a sign of the battering they have taken in the Ashes series.

The tourists find themselves 4-0 down heading into the final showdown in Sydney, which gets underway today.

"I don't think they're in a great place, to be perfectly honest," the wicketkeeper told reporters. "I think you could probably tell a bit of that in their fielding the other day [in the Melbourne Test].

"I think that's the first thing to go when you're struggling a bit.

"The batting and bowling, it's an individual thing, but I think the team stuff looked like it was breaking a bit the other day."

Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash over England in the 2006-2007 series.