Ashes mind games have begun

Shorn of their major stars and having lost their last two home series, although with a series win in South Africa behind them, Australia arrive in England in form other than the default Australian setting (i.e. far and away the best side in the world who have a team half beaten before a ball is bowled). Long gone are the Warnes, McGraths and Gilchrists of this world, though there's no doubting that they're still a mighty good side. But Ricky Ponting's utterances this week maybe suggest they're not quite so confident after all. Wherever he's popped up in the papers this week, he's been focusing on the fitness of Andrew Flintoff.

Now, we think the one person who should be concerned over the fitness of Andrew Flintoff is Andrew Flintoff, but Ponting is missing the point, as he has done throughout his career with those backward-of-square cuts. Flintoff is not the all-important player he may have been some years ago. For a start, his batting has been woeful for a number of years now. It may even have been the 2005 Ashes that last saw him make an impact there. And while his one-day bowling has been exemplary, he hasn't made an impact in Tests - moreso in Twenty20 - for a while. His frequent and lengthy absences have seen the likes of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad revel in the greater responsibility. Broad's batting is also useful down the order while Matt Prior has become the all-rounder with a superb run of form. Tim Bresnan might yet make a decent Test all-rounder but we learned nothing about his batting in the West Indies series just gone while Andrew Strauss's reluctance to bowl him was the one area of his captaincy we'd call into question.

Statistically speaking, England's best current Test all-rounder is Anthony McGrath anyway. And he's a far more fearsome prospect than Andrew McDonald will ever be. Concentrating on England's perceived weaknesses perhaps belies more than a little concern from Ponting over Australia's.