Now I don't want to tempt fate, and we haven't beaten Australia at home since God was a boy, but at the moment Australia are looking like a team in crisis and England have rocked into town for the first Test, which starts on Thursday, on the crest of a wave. To the extent that Messrs Anderson, Broad, Finn and Swann went to Brisbane a week early in order to acclimatise, leaving the second-string bowlers to take Australia 'A' apart in the final warm-up game. In which Ian Bell almost scored a double-century.

The batsmen seem to be on-form as well, only Jonathan Trott out of the top 6 yet to score a half-century on this tour.

Australia aren't the team that they were. No Warne, McGrath, Langer et al. Their best spinner is Nathan Hauritz, and Monty is miles better than him (and may only play once). And vice-captain Michael Clarke is likely to miss at least the first Test with a recurrence of a back injury.

As I said, I don't want to tempt fate. But I'm very much looking forward to hearing from their captain, Mr Richard Ponting, after what will hopefully be an historic series defeat.

It's just a shame that they have to play at night.


Regards

Ian