London, Oct.8 : Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne believes that Australia could win the 2009 Ashes series 5-0.

Firing a pot shot at good friend Kevin Pietersen, the current England captain, he said that the latter still had plenty to prove and dismissed England's victory over South Africa at The Oval in August - KP's only Test in charge - as hollow and meaningless.

That win prompted Pietersen to declare that, if England played as well in 2009, they would beat Australia.

Warne, 39, mocked the claim and said: "I've heard all this stuff about England and the Ashes.

Well, let's see them win something. They've won a dead rubber against South Africa and everyone is saying they're going to win the Ashes. South Africa won that series 2-1 and they are a team with only a couple of decent batsmen. England played the better cricket in 2005 and deserved to win. There's no shame in admitting that. But you can't keep harping back to that. There's been another series in between and we won 5-0."

"The main thing now for England is to start winning. They must get some momentum going - that's what happened in 2005 when they won virtually everything for the previous 12 to 18 months. If they can gain some momentum in the next few months, then next year will be another exciting series like 2005. But, if they keep losing, then Australia will thrash them," the Daily Telegraph quoted Warne, as saying.

"Australia will wipe the floor with England, it will be another 5-0 like last time. Australia are a fantastic side, stronger than ever and with so much strength in depth," he concluded.

ANI