Team - check. Preparation - check. Heads - ??????

If I was to compare my love for Test Cricket to the process of courting a woman the first 19 years of my life was the first couple of dates. Getting to know the girl, realising that shes a good chuckle and knowing that you quite fancy her. The 2005 Ashes series was that moment when you get her back to your place and she takes her clothes off in your room to reveal the most drop dead gorgeous body. The jaw drops and you realise this could turn into something special.

Since then the relationship has only gone from strength strength. Successive summers of India and South Africa touring Australia, the 2009 Ashes, England in New Zealand in 07/08 plus endless summer days on the Basin Reserve where despite New Zealands constant and obvious failings the relationship can only grow stronger. Sure the relationship has had its tough moments aswell, the 06/07 Ashes series immediately springs to mind plus a few dark days in New Zealand Cricket where even the glory of a Basin Reserve afternoon can't mask the pain.

The 2010/11 Ashes summer has the potential to be the trip back to meet the family. It could be clinched and the relationship will only grow stronger and more beautiful or it could do damage that only creates uncertainty and doubts for the years to come.

I think that's enough of that really poor metaphor and onto some actual cricket discussion, but you get my point right? This is a big series, and one that I am very excited about. Luckily enough I will be at the last three tests, fulfilling a dream of being at The MCG on Boxing Day for an Ashes test with my Dad (Mum, I'm glad you are going to be there aswell!)

So its the Cricket which clinches the deal. Test Cricket doesn't come any bigger than the Ashes. Its fair to say that the domination of the Australians through the 90's and the first half of the 00s is over. England win in 05, Australia grab them back 18 months later only for England to somehow win them back in the winter of 09. The series in front of us in intriguing for so many reasons but perhaps none more than the fact that England probably go in as favourites.

For my mind England have the better team. I read a Sydney Morning Herald piece the other day which compared the various units of the teams. So I thought I might do that aswell with an added element that I will make the assumption based on the game being played on a neutral venue as I think the analysis of venue and what comes with it is a seperate question all together.

Openers - Strauss and Cook v Watson and Katich
This is a pretty even battle. Both combinations are strong. Andrew Strauss was the major reason England won back the Ashes last year. Cook has been in sketchy form but he is a class player and will go into the series confident off the back of a good warm up.
Watson and Katich are a good pair, they have scored a truckload of runs since coming together as a combination. Watsons flaw (apart from being the worlds biggest wanker) is that he doesn't convert starts, eleven 50s and only 2 centuries isn't the kind of return Australia wants from its openers. Combine this with the fragility of the middle order of late and it can be help explain a lot of Australias troubles.
Verdict: Even

Middle Order - Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood and Bell v Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and North
Reputation has this being a comfortable Australian victory. The picture in front of us 3-days out from the beginning of the series however tells a markedly different story. Ponting can't play the short ball and Clarke, Hussey and North can't play full stop at the moment. Australias troubles against India, v Pakistan in England, v England in England last winter and even recent home summers against South Africa and India have exposed a frailty that simply didn't exist two or three years ago. The pressure is on Michael Hussey and Marcus North in particular to score runs. How they cope with that pressure is one of the big questions of particularly the first test. The pressure on Ponting can't be underestimated either; he knows that no matter how many runs he scores in his career people will remember him for losing three Ashes series if he loses this series.
Verdict: England (just)

Keepers
I don't know to much about Matt Prior. I know that he is latest in a long list of keepers that England have tried but a quick look at his record suggests he is compiling good number. 18 times past 50 in 55 innings are good stats for a keeper, an average of 42 is nothing to sneeze at. As a keeper I know even less but I was always under the impression that with a good spinner must come a good keeper so the rise and rise of Graham Swann would suggest Prior must be doing something right. Brad Haddin is a cheat. That much I know about him. But unfortunately he is a semi-decent cricketer and if the Aussie middle order struggles as I think they will then Haddin will need to have a big series. In fact both keepers could be in for big series should their respective middle orders struggle.
Verdict: Undecided

Spinners
Graham Swann, easy. Second best bowler in the world at the moment and has fashioned an outstanding record in the past 12 months. Compare that to Xavier Doherty or Stephen Smith and you have absolutely no contest. A lot of Englands hopes in this series rest heavily on Swanns shoulders
Veridct: England

Quicks
This is another really good battle. England have picked a bowling unit that has delivered for it in recent years. Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson and world-class fast bowlers now and Steve Finn looks to be a really good prospect. It could be in this area however that the home advantage comes into play. Can Anderson get the Kookaburra to swing? Will Finn and Broad be able to get the ball to bounce? Australias attack is a good one. Not a great one by Australian standards but still an attack better than most around the world. People tend to talk about Johnson a lot and yes he can be woeful or wonderful but between Siddle, Hilfenhaus and Bollinger the Australians have enough quality to compensate for their complete lack of a spinner.
England.
Verdict: Australia (just)

The Mental Side and Home advantage
In the end of it all I think these two teams are so evenly matched that it is going to be who wins the mental battle. So much of that mental battle is around England thinking they can win in Australia. Their fans believe but do the players? This is the crux of it for me.

So much of the mental side comes down to what happens in Brisbane. Normally a test series in Australia runs a predictable path. Teams show up in Brisbane a week before the first test, practise for a while and then get blown away in Brisbane meaning they have to fight from behind for the whole series. Its what happened in 06/07 and what the Poms have tried to avoid with their warm up here! Their warm up form will have given them serious confidence but how much you can take away from them will really only be known after all 5 tests.

Playing in Australia is the other key mental thing. If James Anderson can swing the ball in Australian conditions then I think England win and pretty comfortably, if he doesn't and the quicks battle in Australian conditions then so much pressure is going to be put on Strauss and Peitersen to score a million runs and Graham Swann to take 6+ wickets in every test match.

I wish I could be bothered writing so much more. The key battles are intriguing, Swann v Ponting. Anderson v the Aussie openers. Pietersen v his ego.

It is such an enticing series and one that I am unbelievably excited about. I will probably provide pretty constant updates through the series so tune in for me waffling. But my prediction....