'Brisbane is England's best chance'

In Brisbane, the key to taking 20 wickets is to get the batsmen on the front foot. Too often visiting teams bowl too short. They see it seaming and bouncing and get carried away. But the secret is to risk being driven through the covers and down the ground so you can get the nick. Around 75-80 per cent of the wickets in Brisbane are catches to the keeper or slips. David Saker, the England bowling coach, was very successful in Brisbane as a bowler so the England quicks must listen to his advice. He was a swing bowler like James Anderson, so he can pass on invaluable knowledge to England's main man.

Strauss has many fine attributes as captain; he concentrates, he treats the players with respect, he is tough, consistent, and can play the longer game. From what I've seen, I'd back him ahead of Ricky Ponting. Both seem to be well-respected by their players, but neither is, to my mind, tactically inventive. As is the modern habit, they tend to be defensive in field-placing. I should like England to be more willing to attack in the field, especially when the ball swings (the new ball has even more significance in Australia than in England, since it loses its shine and bounce much more quickly), and when key batsmen are new at the crease.

For while the guilty pleasure of hunkering down for another night in front of the box when all around are in bed initially seems alluring, the dream soon turns sour. The stronger-willed may be able to tear themselves away at the lunch interval (usually about 1.30am) but, at the age of 53, even this mild adjustment to my body clock is sufficient to render me unfit for purpose the following day. And that’s on a good night. There have been other times – too many other times – when my wife has come downstairs at 4am to find me snoring on the sofa, the TV blaring out an old Audie Murphy Western after the remote control tumbled from my outstretched hand.

What should never be forgotten is that, above all, there was some outstanding cricket played between two teams who, metaphorically, were prepared to punch each other's lights out. England eventually prevailed 2-0, winning two Test matches in Sydney. Snow took 31 wickets at 22.83 runs each. He can be bracketed with Maurice Tate and Harold Larwood, other fast bowlers who prospered in, and antagonised, Australia.

"We went out in much the same situation as the guys are going out this year," said Snow. "Australia were in a bit of a trough player-wise, the others hadn't quite come through and there was a feeling that there was a good opportunity, even though it was on Australian soil, to win it and get the Ashes back."