It's almost time

For those following the Ashes from the UK the series will become a strange addiction over the next six weeks as sleeping patterns are ruined to follow the action. After all the build-up and all the hype now there is huge expectation. In the Independent, Mark Steel recalls his memories of the joy (and pain) of watching the Ashes.

Last time, I saw the first day's play in a sports bar in central London that was jammed with about 500 people watching Harmison's opening ball in which he bowled it almost sideways, causing a world record for the largest number of people to yell the words "Oh for fuck's sake," in perfect synchronicity.

In the same paper, Stephen Brenkley looks at the seven England sides that have managed to win in Australia over the last 100 years.

Over at the Guardian, Andy Bull takes a final look at how the two sides are shaping up in the latest edition of The Spin.

England's meticulous preparations have been designed to leave the players with no excuses for failing. Every conceivable angle has been covered, from the presence of the shadow performance squad in Australia to the decision to send the Test attack early to Brisbane to acclimatise, from the Probatter virtual bowling machine to the tests to see which fielders have the sweatiest palms and should therefore be kept away from the ball in the field, the idea is that nothing has been left to chance.

Meanwhile, Paul Newman of the Daily Mail heads a round-table discussion on the series with David Lloyd, Michael Holding, Michael Kasprowicz and Nasser Hussain.

Newman: How big a factor is the toss, Nass?

Hussain (shaking his head): You're a beauty! Well, I don't think my decision here eight years ago cost us the Ashes, put it that way! Australia were just the better side , whereas this time round they are under immense pressure. The papers here are criticising selectors and their captain is under pressure, while ours is strolling around without a care in the world.

And finally, here are some tips about staying up through the night from the BBC.

By far the best way to prepare for a night shift, whether eight hours of work or eight hours of cork on willow, is to shift your sleeping pattern over a matter of days. If a would be night worker stays up until 5am the night before a shift that finishes at 8am he's half way there. It takes anything up to a week to get used to a new sleeping pattern, says Prof Jim Horne of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University. But there are certain things you can do if you've got no time to ease into the switch.