Shouting from the Hop

The hours are counting down, and two nations on different sides of the world are preparing for sporting battle. The Ashes, the little urn that represents the cricket power swing between England and Australia, is once more up for grabs. England, captained by Andrew Flintoff (left), are about to play a five-test series in Australia. Not since the late 1970's have England travelled down under as holders of the urn.

A lot will rest on how well various England players perform; plans have already been disrupted due to illnes (to Marcus Trescothink, who has returned home) and injury (niggles to Bell, Harmison, etc). The media are building up certain names, and hopefully they will perform well, but the pressure will be intense.

It must be noted that Australia are, and have been for many years, ranked as the best test playing nation at cricket. England have risen to second or third in recent times, mainly on the back of successful home series and victories aginst poor West Indian and South African sides on winter tours. Last year, England lost winter tours in Pakistan, and drew in India.

Where will the game be won? On the pitch obviously, but also in the minds. I have been on every Ashes tour to Australia since 1990/1 - I'm not going this time due to other commitments. I have seen England well and truly stuffed on many occasions (every time I watched them in Perth for instance...), but also victorious in Adelaide and Melbourne. On the last tour, I had returned home by the time the team won in Sydney. The pressure to perform is intense, and so much can rest on how England start the series. Last time, England captain Nasser Hussein won the toss on the morning of the first test and decided, stupidly, to field, thereby handing the advantage immediately to Australia. England never got a look in and lost badly. That situation cannot be allowed to happen again.

A lot will rest on how the batters perform. Without Trescothick, Andrew Strauss will be crucial to a good solid start, and youngster Alistair Cook will be immune to poor previous experiences down under. Ian Bell is in form, and should go well on Aussie pitches. Crucially, Kevin Pieterson (left) will bat at four, and he just has to come good. The big man has enormous, erm, potential, but tends to play too loosely at times. He needs to turn quickfire scores into big hundreds, and bat for time as well as the runs. I am not convinced that Paul Collingwood will contribute too many runs, and ultimately Ed Joyce may be a better bet later in the series.

On the bowling front, much talk is of the spinner choice between Ashley Giles, a veteran Ashes tourist who has been injured for 18 months or so, or Monty Panesar (left), the young prodigy. Do England go with the potential of a few more runs coming from Giles bat but the less wicket taking option, or plump for Monty to actually control the game and maybe even get the team in sight of a win? I hope the latter, but wouldn't be surprised to see Giles play in Brisbane. Note to management - saftey first didn't work four years ago either! The quicks will be hoping to fire, but doubts remain about the form of Steve Harmison, the full fitness of skipper Flintoff, and Matthew Hoggard's penetration on Aussie pitches and using the Kookaburra ball.

I hate to say this, but the tour fills me with dread - the Aussies are back to their confident best, and although they too have some questions in the bowling department (are Warne and McGrath past it yet?), they have too much wicket taking and run scoring potential for England to cope with in my opinion. I predict a 3-0 defeat.

My only hope is that England do actually make a game/series of it, and although they may lose, regularly taking games into the fifth day would be a good achievement in my eyes.

I also hope that media expectation is not too disappointed when matches are lost; we get enough of that in football, and I'd rather that the team is welcomed home as gallant losers than a useless side, as the papers tend to over-react.

My friend called me on Friday to say he was about to fly off to Brisbane for ten weeks, and I have to say I am extremely jealous of him. I just hope he can plan what to do on the few days when games finish early...

But what do I know - come on England! Stick it up 'em and bring that urn back home with you!