The momentum is with Australia

This is a make or break Test match for both teams. England can retain the Ashes at the MCG but an Australia victory will change the complexion of the series writes Shane Warne in the Daily Telegraph. Warne reckons Australia will win because they have all the momentum after their win in Perth.

In sport momentum is crucial because it has an impact on everything. Even in preparation, Australia will be confident and have clarity about what they need to work on. England will be thinking that they have to do certain things better. They will be working on extra stuff to try to get everything right. England will have to turn it around very quickly.

Mike Selvey in the Guardian writes that defeat in Perth was a jolt to the system, a wake-up call for the England players. But they will certainly not be panicked into making wholesale changes and may not make any at all.

Central to this is Steven Finn, who is the leading wicket-taker in the series but who also has tended to leak runs at an alarming rate at times – around a run a ball in Perth. The most radical thing, though, would be to show faith in Finn. Often the best decisions are those that would please the opposition least. Finn, the Australians know, can damage them.

In the same newspaper, Duncan Fletcher echoes a similar view, saying that England should be wary of making any changes to their XI unless they are making changes that have been planned and prepared for a long time in advance.

Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail writes that Ricky Ponting will be taking a big gamble if he persists with an unbalanced attack of four fast bowlers against England in Melbourne. Ponting has said that the old Australia are back, but Hussain doesn't agree.

I can see already that Ponting is playing a few little mind games ahead of this huge Test. He is saying that Australia are back, that this is the old Australia and the Australia they have wanted all along. I'm not sure about that. I think what happened at the WACA papered over the cracks because it is a ground that suited them so well.

Back to the Daily Telegraph and Simon Hughes tries to work out just how the England bowlers can get Michael Hussey - Australia's leading run-scorer in the series - out.

They must challenge like with like and keep it simple. No batsman enjoys being starved of runs.They must be ultra disciplined and deny him anything to score off. They must make him chase the game. That means ball after ball on a good length on off stump