Warne quite happy to play a supporting role

LONDON - Shane Warne, one of the great tormentors of England, is prepared to play second fiddle to Australia's fearsome pace attack during the Ashes despite having "the wood" on three key batsmen.

Warne, hammered by India on his last Test excursion, made an encouraging start to the English summer by taking 2-38 and 1-34, and belting 68 and 41no, as Australia routed Worcestershire by 360 runs.

Sir Donald Bradman used to step off the boat in the 1930s and warm up for the Ashes by blasting double-hundreds against Worcestershire, and Australia's team effort was similarly imposing at the quaint New Road ground.

Runs and wickets were shared around, but man-of-the-match Damien Martyn (108 and 28) and Glenn McGrath (3-31 and 4-31) were the most impressive.

The tourists boarded the team bus, which four years ago became bogged in the car park adjacent to Worcester Cathedral, and drove to London ahead of the one-day match against Middlesex at Lord's on Tuesday.

Australia, England and Pakistan contest a limited overs tournament this month but cricket followers here are already preoccupied with the looming Ashes battle.

Speedsters Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee hold the key to Australia's fortunes but three of the big English dangers - Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart and captain Nasser Hussain - have nightmarish memories of Warne.

He has dismissed Thorpe and Stewart more often than he has any other Test batsmen - nine times each - while Hussain and Atherton have fallen to Warne eight and seven times respectively.

"I think there's a few scars - Nasser Hussain, Stewart, Thorpe - those three guys who are the main three now, I think I've got the wood on those guys," said Warne, who has 376 Test wickets.

"I'm interested in how they come out in the Test series and one-day series, whether they're going to try and take me on, which they've tried in the past and it hasn't worked, or try to survive, which hasn't worked.

"That's if I get a bowl to them.

"If the three quicks have their way, I mightn't have much of a job to do, just tie up an end and get through the overs as quickly as I can so the quicks can have a bowl."

Australian captain Steve Waugh has grown fond of bucking Test tradition by bowling first to let his pacemen loose and Warne believed McGrath, Gillespie and Lee would get the majority of overs.

It's a far cry from the Mark Taylor era when Warne carried the attack and single-handedly won too many Tests to mention.

"It's a change of tact and rightly so with the three quicks - I've just got to fit in and do my job as part of the team," said Warne.

"As I've always said in my career, my job has been to pick up those crucial one or two wickets and that's what I'm looking to do this tour, hopefully break a few partnerships in the Test series.

"The first few one-dayers and the first few Tests I like to think I'll be part of that and be an important member of the team - first slip to the quicks, batting at No.8 with Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) at seven - they're going to be pretty important roles.

"Then with the bowling, with the three quicks pounding them hopefully and me coming on behind them ... it's something I have to come to terms with and adapt to."

England has won four Test series in a row but Australia has prevailed in every Ashes encounter since 1989, and both sides are remarkably similar to when Australia won 3-2 in 1997.

"For all of us it's pretty crucial just to bring up a few old scars against them, they're the same guys we've been playing for 10 years, so they know how we bowl and we know how they bat," said Warne.

"We need to go bang-bang straight away with a few of their guys thinking 'oh jeez, what's happening here'.

"Then they'll start thinking and it will bring out a few of the deep thoughts that they're trying to forget about at the moment."

Warne has taken 87 wickets in 18 Tests against England at 24.29, with a career-best haul of 8-71 at the Gabba in 1994/95.

Australia's leading Test wicket-taker, who needs seven more to join former England all-rounder Ian Botham in sixth on the all-time list, was unconcerned by question marks over his form.

"This tour I don't feel I'm under the pump or anything like that, certain people think I am but I don't think I am," he said.