Poms smell the blood of the Australians

England have enjoyed a better preparation and start as favourites for The Ashes. Australia have some superb players but appear disjointed. It's been a long time since an Australian team has relied so much on ifs and buts. But things can change, an inspired moment, a great innings and suddenly the bubble is back. Peter Roebuck writing in the Sydney Morning Herald hopes cricket will surpass its humdrum setting.

Over the years Englishmen have rarely gone to cold, damp Wales with any high expectations but this time their optimism is evident. They come in search not of coal or five-pointers but in pursuit of a disrupted Australian cricket team. They come seeking the Ashes...

Although lacking the messianic zeal to regain the Ashes that gripped the population last time around, the hosts are desperate to put the supposedly gum-chewing, unyielding, leathery visitors in their place. More than is sensible and much more than their opponents, English cricket measures itself by results in Ashes series. It is an odd obsession that tells of respect, fear and regret.