Opening the Innings

Jack Nicklaus vs Arnold Palmer, Bjorn Borg vs Jimmy Connors and Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier have dominated sporting rivalries over the history of their respective sports.

However the rivalry of The Ashes goes back further than any of those aforementioned sporting greats can even recollect.

Ever since 1882 ‘The Ashes’ earn has been fought over, with Australia enduring the most recent success having won nine of the last ten series.

The Ashes themselves originate from a meeting between the two sides in 1882, when England were defeated by the Aussies at Lords.

English Cricket was said to have died, and in the return trip the following year England were said to be going back to fight for the ashes of English cricket.

A small earn was presented to the team after their 2-1 series victory down-under, said to contain ashes of a piece of cricket equipment.

From that moment The Ashes trophy-the most converted in cricketing history has played a pivotal part in the rivalry between these two great nations.

Now in its 74th series it’s the turn of captains Andrew Strauss and Ricky Ponting, taking charge of his 3rd successive series to help guide their sides to Ashes glory.

The previous series in Australia in 2006/07 produced a 5-0 whitewash for the hosts, as England became victims of a backlash by the Australian side.

The last series in England however saw that infamous 2-1 series victory for England, their first in 18 years.

The circumstances behind the English victory will be the biggest concern for this travelling Australian side, who suffered loud and intimidating crowds all around the country as they were simply overwhelmed in one of the greatest Ashes series of recent time.

Since the last series the Australian side have undergone something of a re-vamp with the likes of Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and most significantly Shane Warne hanging up their gloves.

Mathew Hayden saw himself fall out of favour on the international arena to the extent that he decided to retire earlier this year, and continue the high profile exodus.

So the team that travels to England this summer will be a shadow of the team that trounced England in the last series, but for this years hosts it’s been a story of injuries rather than retirements that has upset their 2005 winning team.

Simon Jones has seen his knee injury fail to progress over the last five years, with the potential for a return to the England side nothing more than a dream for the Worcestershire pace-man.

Marcus Trescothick saw a stress related illness get the better of him, and although he now stars for Somerset in County Cricket he felt that if he couldn’t tour with the international side, with home internationals therefore also out of the question.

Ashley Giles’ ongoing hip injury has also seen him call it a day, as he now takes a place on the board of selectors for the international side.

Steve Harmison and Michael Vaughan have seen a succession of injuries and a dramatic loss of form as the reason behind their withdrawal from the test team with their involvement in this summers series in serious doubt.

And last but certainly not least comes Andrew Flintoff, whose ongoing ankle and most recently knee injuries have restricted his time with ball and bat, a real hangover after his disappointing captaincy at the last Ashes series.

So both sides have changed dramatically, as have both coaches with Tim Nelson now heading the Aussie team, and now Andy Flower for England after the departure of Duncan Fletcher and then Peter Moores.

Both sides have contrasting recent results, with Australia beaten at home by South Africa, only for them to repay the favour in the return series.

While England were humiliated in the West Indies, only to beat the Calypso Kings in the return series last month.

So who’s the favourite going into the series?

Well Australia have a heavily in-experienced side some who have never played against England-let alone in the pressure cooker of an Ashes series.

England simply have had a loss in form, and have slipped down to 5th in the test rankings, they still have the players but maybe they flatter to deceive on too many occasions, especially with the ball.

It couldn’t be closer going into a series, both have endured contrasting fortunes since there last meeting and picking a winner couldn’t be a more difficult task.