Swann says 'publicly humiliated' England deserved 'old kick up the a**e'

London, July 31(ANI): England off spinner Graeme Swann has said their innings defeat to South Africa in the first Test match was like a public humiliation for them, and added that world's number one Test team thoroughly deserved it since they have not performed to their expectations.

Swann also questioned whether after reaching the pinnacle of Test cricket, he and his teammates stood still while others were catching them up.

"It's the old kick up the a**e isn't it? You can approach everything holistically and be a bit trendy lefty about things, but sometimes a size ten up the -backside is what you need," The Daily Mirror quoted Swann, as saying.

"It was a sort of public humiliation by the end of it, fielding that long and then getting skittled afterwards," he added.

"I can't deny that since we've been number one we have a dismal record. Whether that goes hand-in-hand with being number one I don't really know. We're not doing anything differently. Perhaps that's it, perhaps we're not evolving quickly enough," he said. (ANI)