Melbourne: England batsman Kevin Pietersen accused Australian cricket lovers of indulging in incessant abuse during the Ashes series, saying there was an enormous mental stress for the visitors during the tour.

"You're so highly strung all the time," he was qouted in 'The Australian' today.

"I'd go down to breakfast in the lift and some bloke would say something snide. I came out of a nice restaurant with Jess (girlfriend Jessica Taylor) and her mum and was called the worst names you will ever hear. You try not to react, but it was nasty, it was racial, it was really bad," he said.

Other members of the touring group privately tell similar stories of Australian fans verbally attacking them in the street.

Andrew Flintoff apparently copped abuse in restaurants and out with his family.

"You drive to the ground and you have all these Aussies swearing 'Five-nil' at you. You get to the one-dayers and the first sign you see at the Twenty20 game is 'Six-nil'. Mentally it just kills you," he added.

The attitude of Pietersen, Harmison and some of the other members of the squad differ remarkably to that of Paul Collingwood, the working-class scrapper who was slipped into the Test side at the last moment and whose two centuries helped the one-day team into the final series.

"It's been a tough tour but we are professional cricketers," Collingwood said after England won the first final on Friday night.