McGrath prepares for 'last' England tour

Glenn McGrath leaves for what will almost certainly be his last Ashes tour on Saturday, but his old touch in stirring up his rivals remains as effective as his form. In a training camp with the squad at Brisbane, McGrath said that Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison carried too much of England's load, before giving some relief to the next generation of England batsmen.

"Four years down the track, if I'm still playing I might need to be knocked on the head," McGrath, 35, told the local Courier-Mail newspaper. "You never know, but I'm going to make the most of this tour because it could, more than likely, be my last Ashes tour."

McGrath, who has 68 wickets in 11 Tests in England at an average of 18.27, told the newspaper that England placed too much importance on their two main bowlers. "If Harmison or Freddie [Flintoff] have a bad series, then they're really going to struggle, whereas the Australian team, on any given day, any one of the players can perform well."

England completed a stirring series win over South Africa in January, but the performance didn't impress McGrath. "Harmison didn't have a good series," he said. "The fact that Harmison struggled a bit seemed to have an effect on the rest of the team. If we can get on top of him early, we can keep the pressure on."

Michael Kasprowicz, meanwhile, told The Australian that Flintoff was a danger for Australia, and became the second player in two days to compare an opponent to Adam Gilchrist. Simon Katich revealed that Kevin Pietersen, his Hampshire team-mate, hit like Australia's wicketkeeper, and Kasprowicz said yesterday that Flintoff was in the same mould. "You can get early wickets," he said, "but Flintoff can come in and score quickly in the same way Gilly does."