boot camp or not the present england team has a lot more inner fibre than the previous ones.
Aussies are beatable, for that matter any team is beatable and the most important requisite for victory is ofcourse a beleif that england are the best.

as regards the question of captanicy i say bring back vaughan as the non playing captain. for all of freddie's greatness it would be a disservice to england and himself to thrust captaincy on him and burn him up. I'd much rather prefer strauss for he has done a reasonable good job.

i hope to contribute more later

I believe England will retain the ashes.

More detailed information will be forthcoming in the following weeks.

enland - absolutely no hope. not on our home pitches. roll on the gabba!

the key to eng retaining the ashes is giong to depend very heavily on one big factor........stop the blazing pace of runs that aussies love to set alight.......the best way to do it, have a plan, EXECUTE IT AND STICK WITH IT, with a very 'odd' experiment ball. And the plan is a 7-2 field, with a man on the the cover boundry and bowl outside the off stump with a fullish lenght and bring the slips into play. With the booming cover drives cut off, the run flow will be cut off, and when the run flow cuts off for the aussies, you know what happens .........they get frustrated and frustration always brings out the rash shots and rash shots bring opportunities.......and thats what england wants to do, create more and more opportunities. If you are constatnlty bowling on middle and off, you will be bleeding from both sides of the wicket and thats the worse scenario to have. And eng must always remember to win a test you got to have atleast 300+ runs on the board in a day and thats usually the target for the aussies to get on a day one, so if can cut the runs, draw becomes more likely option, the draw in the series is not going to give them ashes, so frustrate them. The key word for the summer is FRUSTRATION, you frustrate them enough and make them change their game plans, England will have a better chance of winning. Cricket is like chess, whoever gets impatient first, loses!
Good luck

This sure is obsession. I agree that Ashes is still best recognized, but if the politics and money removed from the game of Cricket, India is up there. Zaheer Khan, Balaji, Nehra and all other guys come from a poor background and seems like were lost on the way to be successful bowlers, just becoz they made enough money to satiate themselves. No other way, why they are no longer part of the game. And thats a shame.

England need their full pace battery fully fit to have a hope. Australia's batting will not be as under-prepared as last time.

Add to that a lot of proud Australian champions as motivated as ever to sign off their careers at the top, and you know England has to play much better than last time to succeed.

Warne and McGrath will have one last laugh over an England team whose batting is not equipped to succeed on Australian wickets.

I think the Aussies would regain the ASHES.Home conditions, Crowd behind them should give them an edge.
Warne will rip it while the look on Ponting s face when he lost the ashes and his recent form suggests around 500 runs for the series. Hayden's calmness should also contribute.

3-1 Australia

It's great to see Cricinfo giving editorial space to blogs and even more heartenining to see mainstream writers like Tim taking to blogging. I look forward following Tim's blog through the Ashes.

i believe that the current England Squad is better then the previous ones but are they better than the one which won the Ashes?
NO
& regardless wether Oz's win or loose they to me are the Greatest Team the World has seen ........
& i am almost 99% sure with Mcgrath & Warne playing all 5 games no way England(even if they are fully loaded with Vaughan & Freddie etc.) is winning more than 1 game .............

Off Topic
is there any team which swings momentum(confidence) like teh Pakiz do 1rst three games they look like world beaters & then they play like .............
they do that all the time.
The Most Unpredictable Team.

Ashes, smashes!
It doesn't get any bigger than India V Pakistan!
That said, I think the Aussies will regain the Ashes at home in a close battle. I wouldn't say England is one of the top 2 Test sides in the world though! They're probably #3 after India.

I would love to find out that none of the english players are injured and that it is a huge ploy by duncan fletcher and that ponting watches Vaughan, Simon Jones trod happily through the gates of the Tullamarine in Melbourne

Boy O boy ... What I would not give for that to be true

jibril

i think australia will won ashes by 2-1 as there are many draws these days so 2 will be draw.

All the hype and suspense leading up to the Ashes might be completely unfounded, atleast for the British supporters. In Australian conditions, there is no way England can compete with Australia. The Aussies should win convincingly.Doesn't matter who the England captain is. A captain can only be as good as the team that he gets. History proves it, with the possible exception of Imran Khan who moulded a bunch of very average players into an unbeatable outfit. The only people who can give England an outside chance of offering any resistance to Australia is Flintoff and Ian bell. After all we must recognise the fact that Englands victory against Pakistan was made against a 2nd string pskistani bowling attack and some rather controversial decisions throughout the entire series. Although Bell scored heavily against that attack, I still feel he can play and succeed against any bowling attack as he's technically a very correct player.

The problem with this England side is their weak preparation leading upto the Ashes. With so many injured, and mystery ailments taking over some of the remaining, England's Ashes campaign is almost over before it begun. Another huge problem is the overplay on Andrew Flintoff's role.

My gut feel is that Australia are going to thrash England this time around. And England are, as usual, going to come up with multiple excuses for losing. All of them will be ridiculous. The fact remains that 2005 was an abberation. England are hardly the number 2 side. The all-prevalent British media ensures that the team is praised to the skies for their good performances, few and far between.

Today's biggest contest is Indo-Pak. Period! The Ashes rivalry is all hokum. One exciting series in 20 years does not a good rivalry make.

It will be close, but if the English bowlers learn from McGrath that line and length are paramount, and concentrate on the corridor on and just outside off stump successfully, England could win. The other requirement is a careful technical approach to playing Warne, who is the greatest ever, without doubt, but who can be played if enough homework is done and put into practice. Even he will bowl the odd one that can safely be hit, and the batsmen must see that they get full value for any lapses in line and/or length.

I think that England aren't even going to come close to Australia. Even if they did have a full strength side. The Australian conditions + australian crowds(even if half of England is on their way over there) x By Australia's determination to make up for the last series = Mission impossible for England. I think England will be lucky to win even 1 match there. And even that will only happen if they win the toss in Adelaide.

personally i believe all the hype is going to result in disappointment in what is going to be a tremendously one sided contest (in favour of australia). i just see it happen too much - after india's tour of aus in 2003, think of how much the return tour was hyped. did it live up to it? i think not

They did it last time arnd, but i reely don c it happenin this time, especially with guys like Vaughan'n Jones missin out. Vaughan may not have fulfilled his promise with the bat, but his evolved method of 30 minutes plans are gonna b a sure miss. Monty's gonna b a handful, surely better than just limited Giles negative spin. He's a smart cricket brain, thought clumsy wid the willow.
I say Ricky, Mathew and Justin r gonnab deciding it for the Aussies with the wood, and surely Glenn and Warnie with the leather. I hope the english willow comes good. I'd put my money on Bell'n Kevin. But the decider's gonna b the rip'n swing of english leather. If Steve'n Monty can put up a show, we sure've got a series up our sleeve. Boy, aint I gonnabe hooked to my tv set !!!

i certainly believe that aussies will regain the ashes which they lost last year. last time i watched ashes very closely if england believe they have any chances of retaining first they have to improve their players fitness and their main players will be freddie and kevin peterson if they will perform upto their mark then it will be very difficult for aussies. and if simon jones will fit that will be bonus for them and i think vaughan absence doesn't make any difference. but to beat australia in their den it will be very difficult. in england they were so lucky to win but in australia in front of their supporters it will be very much impossible. but u never know in cricket because the experts say u won't give up till the last ball bowled. the last time england won the ashes they were a very strong unit and they were playing the best cricket of their life. they were almost unbeatable in that year. but this time they lack match winners who can handle pressure at that time all the players were on their peak form. and now they have different squad than the last year they have just perform in their recent series against the pakistanis who were also not have their best bowlers in their ranks. My suggestion to engalnd team that if they really want to win in australia they have to frustrate, sledge them that is the way engalnd can beat aussies in their home.

4-0 to Australia.
Australia are in great form.
They have a lot of experience, particularly at home.
A lot of the English players lack experience playing in Australian conditions and will find it hard to adapt in the first few games.
England have almost no chance.

I dont think we'll see another ashes series like the previous one, that was a magnificent series. Australia will win the series easily. The Aussie side has had a shake up, the lads were given a wake up call after last years ashes and will come back at Engaland harder than ever. With the whole nation behind Ponting and his men, England like the old days will melt under pressure.

A draw would be a good result for England. Vaughan may not be missed as a player, but Flintoff won't be able to focus on his captain's role in the field being a main strike bowler and any lapses of momentum Australia will capitalise on. With our batting, likely to be spearheaded by Strauss, bell and Pietersen, we can certainly compete with Hayden, Ponting and Hussey, the three dangermen. Langer looks spent as a test player and he will be Harmison's bunny. Apart from the three aforementioned batsmen, the rest of the Australian order looks ropy. Gilchrsit has been out of sorts with the bat this year and nos. 4 and 5 have been chopping and changing from Symonds, Hodge, Martin and Clarke, neither of whom have been consistent. So Aussies have been relying on their big three batsmen. Let's also remember that before the 2005 Ashes the Aussies were in good form too. The big three batsemen will be hard to contain, but this will be a competitive England bowling attack. But more important we can compete with the Aussies in the run stakes. that after all was what the Aussies couldn't cope with in England. I'd say a see-saw series, Australia to take an early lead 1-0, a big scoring draw at Adelaide, England win miraculously in Perth, an Aussie win and an England win to finish the series on a nail-biting 2-2 draw.

I personally think Australia is going to win the ASHES this summer,England without vaugahan and jones are not that god enough to be world beaters and if u have mcrath,warnie and ponting in thier best England cannot nurse any hopes for reatining the ASHES.

i think if the media was to leave the england boys alone and stop predicting an england series win this will definitely shake the boys up as they know they are under no pressure from them. also i think the best way is to let england retain strauss asn the captain and make flintoff the vice captain. that way if things are not going well for england strauss will just leave the field and let flintoff take over as captain and let him work his magic. also i think trescothick should be left at home and open up with strauss and cook, then pietersen, bell, dairlymple, flintoff, read, mahmood, harmison, hoggard and then monty.

england will have to do something extremely special to retain the ashes. last time the preparation was meticulous with every player 100% fit incredilby throughout the entire series (bar s. jones at the oval) which isnt going to happen this year, with most of our best players either injured or recovering.

Having said that, the batting is stronger in my opinion now and if freddy, harmy, hoggy and monty are all taking wickets then we give ourselves a chance. However, the 5th bowler is an important role and would be great if anderson is fit. if not, as lewis is not even in the squad go for mahmood, anythings better than plunkett...

Reading the Blogs it looks like everyone is betting on Aussies to win handsomely. But it could be a lot different. Anytime this Aussie team has been in pressure from day 1 they have failed. For e.g Indian Last tour down under, Last Ashes etc. They may walk tall but inside I feel that if they have a few bad days at the start of the series they will feel the heat. Crowd backing is a two-edged sword.
Hayden, Langer, Martyn are past their prime, Warne, Mcgrath, Lee and Ponting are the main threats now. I dont think England can frustrate the Aussies, They have to go for the kill and with Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and Panesar they have the firepower. Panesar is going to be the joker in the pack (literally too)...English batting also looks good.
Most importantly England team has suffered and grown in the last few months whereas the Aussies have done nothing of note since then.

Will this Ashes be as memorable as the last one...I think it should be a worthy sequel...

Another disaster, selecting players not fully fit,ignoring young talent etc etc. Flintoff will not finish the tour, Trescothick should not even have been considered and the backup squad is a joke. In other words another typically inspired piece of nonsense from the England selectors.

I personally want England to win but going with my instincts, I think its Australia 4-1 this time.

Though all the matches will go down to the wire, but the Aussies will have the upper hand in home conditions and not to forget the crowd.

And Shane Warne will be the difference between the two teams and England most likely with out Simon Jones & Michael Vaughan they have no chance.
And also looking at England's injury list, things are looking bad for England down under.

Ajay Aspathi

Benjamin - England have suffered and grown in the past months!?? I would say they've stumbled constantly since their Ashes hangover. And as for the Aussies doing nothing of note...I guess the 2-0 & 3-0 home and away series wins against South Africa slipped under your radar.

The form of the Aussies has been great post-Ashes and I'm going to enjoy watching the runs be piled on by Ponting and Co at Adelaide!!!

My gut feeling is this squad is a recipe for calamity. Far too many "ifs" and the bowling looks wholly "iffy". To beat the very best Test teams a bowling attack needs a spinner who "rips" the ball, a quick who has serious heat and hates batsmen and a keeper who can average 35+. This England team will not scare Australia. Surely Tremelett would have been a better bet than Plunkett as he has serious height on his side that helps on both responsive and unresponsive decks, Giles is cannon fodder and a more inspired selection would have been Dalrymple and/or Rashid or even Salisbury. Dalrymple could do at the very least a containing role that Giles performs and can bat at eight and thus taking pressure off Flintoff at six and Read at seven to score runs. on Adelaide or the SCG Panesar teamed with a Dalrymple or Rashid would have caused us problems much more than Plunkett and Anderson will. No doubt Panesar can bowl but Australians use their feet and will back themselves against him. Read does not use his feet and appears to not want to get too close to the ball, he will be cut in half on our decks and found out big time. Jones has a much better technique and Prior should have toured. Mahmood will give us some hurry up but too many loose balls will mean his figures will be less than complimentary. the batting is very good but Cook will struggle as he plays away from his body too much and someone like Butcher should have been in the touring party for experience alone. The Captain should have been Strauss as Flintoff is a rare match winner and the Ashes tour to Australia will take its toll and burn him out. England will ruin the very ingredient that can retain the Ashes a batting all-rounder by placing the burden of Captaincy on him. This is NOT the same as touring India it is far tougher!

I think it will be interesting to see how England fare under similar circumstances to what Australia faced in the last Ashes series: away games, rambunctious crowds, injuries galore, and selectors making some odd choices.

I also think losing the Ashes was the best thing that could have happened to the current Australian team, particularly Ricky Ponting, whose captaincy has improved immensely since then.

Aussie players to watch this summer include Ponting (who won't want to go down in history as the Australian captain who lost the Ashes and couldn't regain them), McGrath (who's missed just enough cricket due to his wife's illness to keep him hungry for more time on the field) and Michael Hussey (who should NEVER have been left out of the squad last time and reliably achieves solid scores). I'll also go out on a limb, and say that Shane Warne won't be as much of a force this summer as expected.

As an Australian, Flintoff's appointment as captain had me grinning from ear to ear all morning - I predict that this summer we'll be seeing Freddie getting swept up in media hype, losing his cool, and losing the Ashes. I don't see a good summer ahead for Freddie - or for the English team.

Lotsa hype has surrounded this series so far, and I'm really looking forward to it - even managed to score tickets to one of the tests. I'm especially looking forward to hearing the Barmy Army chanting newly-minted songs about convicts and so forth in the crowd - don't you boys know that we love our convict ancestry down here?

Australia 4-1. The last Ashes was easily the best series I have ever seen, but England were at 110%, Australia about 80%. The relentless pressure and sheer will to win from the Aussies will be too much for England, especially without Vaughn's leadership.

To England & all her bleating cricket supporters: we know what you did last summer....& you ain't gunna get away with it twice!!

A lot of England fans seem to forget where the series is being played....ladies & gentlemen, welcome to the arena! We ARE the holding the Ashes series Downunder this time.

You are gunna smashed pillar to post by the media, the Australian cricketing public & then our team. Last time you lot gave us the blow torch in the media, & your crowds were extremely hostile. Remember girls & boys, you are coming here. So when you pull on the cross of St. George & sing your silly songs inside our grounds, across our country you will be a very, very small minority. On the other hand, we, the Aussie cricketing public, will be right behind our team all the way. Your brave boys are gunna rabbits in our steaming Mack truck headlights....don't worry too much, it'll be alright, you won't feel a thing (we promise not even a whimper), it'll swift, clinical & executed with surgical precision. So fast you'll all be on about Euro 2008 before you know it!! All your last-years Ashes bandwagoneers will be gone & wheels will be off, then the brave diehards will be all alone fending for themselves. All the banter will have long dried up & we'll start feeling sorry for you again.

I do admire the brave souls who do come here to support England. However, you may find the beach more to your liking, or some safe & cozy Engerlaaand pub, where you can all huddle together & sing silly songs (remember the golden rule: safety in numbers). I don't think the inside of our mighty cricketing venues are going to hold much joy for any Engerlaaand fans. I mean, at least the weather's nice.....

Promise we'll be civil to you outside the Gabba, the Oval, the WACA, MCG & SCG.

Bring your sunscreen, it's gunna be a long hot summer for the diehard Engerlaaanders.

Seeya soon. We can't wait......

I Reckon that the aussies will win back the ashes if they win in perth and the gabba because england can bat them out of it at adelaide and melbourne that leaves sydney which is an even money bet unless warne and macgill...(???) turn it on. "freddie flintoff" is the key if he can lift the english quicks in perth and the gabba where the ball might do a bit off the seam and they win one of those two they have a big shot at retaining the ashes. A lot will depend on Monty pasenar and the 2nd spinner in Sydney as it might come down to that test.

Yes England has tried to stay with the tried and tested and even with so many injuries real and imagined and usually undiagnosed I think England"s ashes campaign is not as hopeless as some of the ones in the nineties. But it has a fair chance of being there!I wonder if the aussies will be caught napping again this time around ar home.Sridhar

england to retain the ashes only if they give more than 100 percent and also if they are injury hit. but who knows ,with all the injuries currently being sustained by the england boys, the aussies might be caught napping again and we will be in for a fantastic series again. i will surely like to see the priceless look on ponting's face when the england lads retain the ashes.

Apparently the Gabba is quicker than Perth these days--so that is two to England already. Adelaide a draw--looks like we have retained the ashes--wont the MCG boxing day test be fun. Then Freddie to beat David Boons 52 on the plane home and Oz truly is only good at swimming (and hockey, oh how the mighty have fallen).

To Australia and all her ashesless supporters

We sing our (silly?) songs to support our team - you keep quiet..... thats the way we like it.

The whole of Australia is always against us, it can only serve to spur the boys on to another battling performance. We love being the underdogs, havent you realised that yet? Win or lose we can take it. You cant...Gary Pratt running out that sore loser ponting anyone???

ps keep sledging freddie, he thrives on it