Bring On The Ashes 2010 Say The England Team

According to the confident captain of the England cricket team, Andrew Strauss, "England are used to winning."

Strauss believes that his England side are ready to take on the ultimate challenge of defending the Ashes on Australian soil. If they were to succeed they would end of one the longest unbeaten records in cricket.

The figures show that it is 22 years since Australia last lost a Test in Brisbane and England have only ever won four matches here since Ashes cricket was first played in the capital of Queensland, on the ‘Bodyline’ tour of 1932-33. The England side really are up against the odds.

However, the England team have come back as well-prepared and confident as ever before, whilst the hosts have been hit by numerous injuries, loss of form and talk of dissent in the ranks.

"I don’t think we could be in a much better position than where we are at the moment," said Strauss. "We are used to winning. We have started the tour well, so that is great, but it is about us performing under pressure now and that is something we can’t legislate for. We need guys to be able to dig deep to fight well, with passion, to get over the line. I have every confidence the side can do it.

"They have had their share of troubles over the last couple of months or so, but that all goes out the window [now]. The series moves ahead at a fast pace and things can change quickly. Both sides will be very keen to land the first punch, but ultimately it is 25 days of cricket and the first day is only one of them."

There seems to be a quiet air of confidence surrounding the England team. So far, the team have resisted baiting from the Australian media and players and remained focus on the task in hand.

Strauss has said of his team:

"The guys are ready to go. You don’t need any inspirational Churchillian words. It is important, if anything, to calm them down rather than rouse them. Ultimately this series will be dictated by who performs well in the close sessions of the Test matches. You can plan for that to a certain extent, but ultimately it is about guys going out there and performing when the pressure is on.

England did receive words of encouragement from the Prime Minister, though. He recorded a video message saying: "The whole country is behind you". He joked that the arrival of his new baby daughter, Florence, "who’s up at all hours", would make it easier for him to catch the television coverage.