Dec 24 (Reuters) - An Ashes tour ‌that began with high hopes of taking home the urn has been reduced to a desperate effort to ‌salvage some last vestiges of dignity as England head into one of the great occasions on the ‌sporting calendar, the Boxing Day test.

The tourists have been savaged since meekly surrendering the series to a makeshift Australia outfit with a third straight defeat on Sunday in Adelaide, extending their winless streak in Australia to 18 tests going back to January 2011.