We all remember the joyous jubilation of England’s Ashes victory in 2005. We all remember the close, tense, dramatic matches. But most of all we remember the celebration afterwards, the raucous parade through London’s streets and a bleary eyed Freddie Flintoff stumbling about. 18 months after those festival like scenes, England were humiliatingly brought down to earth with a thunderous crash as the Australians gained revenge by whitewashing the series. Fast forward to 2009, where England once again regained the Ashes on home soil. Yet this time, there was a strangely sombre reaction to England’s victory Yes all England fans were delighted to get one over the Aussies again, but there was no carnival like, extravagant celebrations. Instead, England have quietly just got on with the job. In fact, the only uproar since last summer’s Ashes victory was the commotion that surrounded the Pakistani spot fixing allegations during their tour of England this summer. England want re-focus their attention on the cricket, and what better way to do that, that to travel Down Under for another mouth-watering Ashes battle.

England go into this winter’s Ashes series with one massive problem-their batsman aren’t scoring runs. In the recent series against Pakistan, out of England’s top 6, only Jonathan Trott averaged above 30, whilst batting collapses occurred with alarming regularity. That is worrying. Taking on Australia with misfiring batsmen just makes a difficult task virtually impossible. Ian Bell will return to the line-up having missed this summer’s series due to injury, with Eoin Morgan the man he is most likely to replace. That should add some much needed steel to the top order, but Messrs Strauss, Pietersen et al must start scoring runs if England are to contemplate victory.

England’s bowlers look more promising. Over the summer, the fast bowling trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn looked deadly and at times were unplayable, whilst Graeme Swann is easily the best spinner in international cricket. But playing in Australian conditions will represent a new challenge for the talented attack. Australian pitches are flatter and swing bowling is not as prevalent as it is in England. James Anderson will suffer from this, more so than the taller, hit the deck style of Broad and Finn. Surrey’s Chris Tremlett, standing at 6 foot 7 inches, is the number 1 candidate to either provide cover or even join the attack.

There is one key selection issue for England- do they deploy a 6 man batting line-up with 4 bowlers, or go for 5 of each. To weaken an underperforming and fragile batting line-up would be a bold and risky move. But on the other hand, it is inconceivable that any side would take on Australia in their own backyard with just 4 recognised bowlers.

However, there are serious questions lingering over Australia at present too. Massive doubts remain over the capability of Australia’s talented but inexperienced bowling attack. Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus can be dangerous, but only not in the way Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee could rip through batting line ups. If those 2 don’t fire, Australia don’t have a well known back up fast bowler, whilst spinner Nathan Hauritz has nowhere near filled the void left by the legendary Shane Warne.

To cap that, Australia have just lost 3 tests in a row for the first time in 22 years. Having been defeated by Pakistan to only draw the series held in England, the Aussies were then whitewashed in the recent series against India. Australia have slipped to 5th in the ICC World rankings, one place behind England. Some have even started to doubt Ricky Ponting’s ability to captain the side. The talismanic skipper will be in charge for the Ashes, but he has seen his side’s fortunes plummet in recent years .Considering Australia’s dominance of the Ashes over the past 30 years or so, for a captain to lose 2 Ashes series is a tad embarrassing. If he were to lose a third, and a first Ashes defeat on home soil since 1987, that would be humiliating. But if there’s one thing that can get Ponting and his men fired up, it’s the thought of taking on their nemesis’s England.

This Ashes series could prove to be a classic. A wounded Australia prepare to clash with a slowly resurgent England in what looks like the tightest series between these 2 sides in years. England have the better form, but Australia are at home, and that could prove crucial. In English conditions, England can beat any side in the world. But away from home, particularly in front of a partisan Australian crowd, everything is completely different. The key to all the test matches will be whether England can impose themselves on the game early, be it by getting big scores on the board, or by skittling through the Australian batting order, England will need to get in contention early. If not, the matches and then the series could slip away from them.

My Prediction: A tight series with a couple of draws, but Australia to triumph narrowly 2-1.

By Chris Sykes