England wary of Ashes hype

England v Australia teams

Teams and officials for the first Ashes Test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, starting Wednesday: England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Graham Onions, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn Australia (from): Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Phil Hughes, David Warner, Michael Clarke (capt), Ed Cowan, Brad Hadin (wkt), Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird, Usman Khawaja, James Faulkner, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA) AFP.

These are good times to be a British sports fan.

Last weekend saw the British and Irish Lions win their first series in 16 years when they defeated Australia in Sydney and Andy Murray become the first British winner of the Wimbledon Men's Singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.

Murray's victory over Novak Djokovic sparked a mood of national sporting euphoria not seen since ....well in fact seen as recently as last year's London Olympics when British competitors won a clutch of gold medals.

But euphoria is a hard thing to translate from one sport to another.

England are favourites as they bid for a third straight Test series win over-arch rivals Australia starting in Nottingham on Wednesday However, the lesson of history is that touring Australia parties billed as "the weakest to travel for an Ashes" are rarely that.

The last time that line was used was in 1989 when Australia regained the Ashes by a 4-0 margin.

Australia were thrashed 4-0 in India, where England won late last year, in March and come into this series with huge question marks over their batting which, with the exception of captain Michael Clarke, battling a longstanding back problem, lacks proven world-class performers.

However, an attack set to be led by Peter Siddle -- fifth in the world rankings -- and likely to feature promising paceman James Pattinson could cause England problems.

"We're not going into this game viewing the Australians as anything other than a very difficult team to beat - despite recent results in India ... we're not viewing them as a pushover at all," said England off-spinner Graeme Swann," set to play on his Trent Bridge home ground on Wednesday.

"(Favourites') tags like that are quite dangerous if you start believing them - start believing your own hype.

"It can bite you on the backside fairly quickly, this game."

And Australia vice-captain Brad Haddin said the injection of enthusiasm provided by several potential Ashes debutants could be just what the team, regrouping under coach Darren Lehmann after South African Mickey Arthur was sacked last month, needs.

AFP.