Following Matty Hayden’s retirement from the International Scene, the Australian team which makes its way to these shores will be rather different from that which beat us in the first test match of the 06/07 Ashes series. Hayden is the 6th player from that team to retire after yesterday’s announcement, and with Lee and Stuart Clark currently out injured (and possibly for some time), that will leave just three players in Ponting, Hussey and Michael Clarke who set the Aussies on the road to a series whitewash still left standing.

So what does that mean for us and them though in the build up to the Ashes? There is no doubt that losing all that experience and quality makes it difficult for a team to keep up to the high standards they are used to, which was shown in their recent struggles against SA. Maybe the players in the 06/07 Ashes series were hurting after being beaten by us in ‘05 and wanted revenge, the squad of players which arrive on our shores this summer will be raw and not have experienced either the winning or losing of an Ashes series. They’ll still want to win of course, but will they have the desire to push that bit harder like they did to regain the Ashes?

England still have 8 players in and around the squad from that same game game in November ‘06, players that should have been embarrassed by what happened and will be wanting to claim back that little urn. That, topped with a dose of home advantage and a crowd right behind them will hopefully push the advantage our way – lets hope so!