Steve Waugh who is the 40th Australian captain but appears to have been in the job

Steve Waugh, who is the 40th Australian captain but appears to have been in the job forever, said the other day that defeat earlier this year in India might have done them good It would stop them taking winning for granted. What a horrifying prospect that is for their next opponents.Only blind patriotism allied to foolhardy optimism fuelled by crass stupidity was ever likely to make it possible to go for an England series win. The trouble is that it has now become difficult to forecast a close contest. Nothing will quite dispel the image of Hussain raising a replica of the Ashes above his head at The Oval in late August, Mike Atherton having struck the winning runs in a cameo 20 not out to follow his first innings century, but it is fading as though it (and its architect) have been in the sun too long.It is not only that English improvement has been matched by similar Australian strides so that the gap, hard though it is to believe, is wider than it has been these past 14 years.

The doubts about the structure of the home team simply will not go away and it comes back to that image of Atherton. He and five others have been on the receiving end of Australian hammerings so often that contemplating victory now takes a huge leap of faith.Hussain, Atherton, Alec Stewart, Thorpe, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Ramprakash, have all suffered ignominious failure. It is a mystery among Australian observers that they have been picked to fight another day There are solid precedents, of course. In 1953, the Ashes had been away for 19 years and Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Godfrey Evans and Alec Bedser to name but a few had all been subjected to previous humiliation. The desire for revenge saw them through.For all his reluctance to issue a rallying call, Hussain will want similar vengeance In Waugh, he has the most obdurate of opponents. Waugh, too, stopped well short of arrogance in discussing the series last week. He conceded that Australia definitely had an an advantage over the players who represented England in the one-day series and he promised a riproaring series."For the last 18 months Test cricket has been outstanding.

It's at a peak now and I don't think there have been better matches played," he said. He was including England, but he knows that Australia play it differently from everybody else. They attack and they never stop attacking.If their top three batsmen are vulnerable their middle order is astonishingly adept Their bowling is awe-inspiring England have won recently by digging deep and defending They will have to play a different game Hussain's return will help but they will do well to survive They will do well to avoid losing 4-1. The time has arrived and England may be starting a long walk to the gallows.. Talk of Headingley 1981, which will envelop us in the next month, should not allay talk of Headingley 2001. The ground where England came back from the dead to beat the Aussies 20 years ago is also itself attempting to live again. Talk of Headingley 1981, which will envelop us in the next month, should not allay talk of Headingley 2001.