Aussies to feel the heat?

It will be a wary Australian team who line up against England for the start of the Ashes series next week in surprisingly delightful summer conditions in the United Kingdom.

The last time Ricky Ponting and his Australian team travelled to English shores to play a Test series, they would have been forgiven if they chose to leave the Ashes trophy safely at home – so dominant had they been in the past.

What a difference five matches make, though: an entertaining 2005 series where the hosts handed the visitors their first Ashes defeat in 18 years. And, while Australia avenged that 2-1 embarrassment with an emphatic 5-0 thrashing of the English Down Under two years later, they start the series in Cardiff with a team still in the process of gelling together.

It was a somewhat controversial decision to move the first Test from the home of cricket – Lord's – to Cardiff, Wales, the ground hosting its first Ashes Test since the series started in 1882. However, both teams will hardly be focused on such sentimentality when the first ball is bowled on Wednesday (2pm UAE time).

Australia's batsmen will be aware that the swinging conditions up north were part of their undoing four years ago and it will be up to their experimental opening combination of Simon Katich and the unorthodox Phillip Hughes to see off the new ball.

Katich has played Tests in England before, while three-Test-old Hughes was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to play a handful of first-class games in the county circuit before the series. He will also point to his impressive performances in Australia's 2-1 series victory against South Africa in March, which suggests he will be a tough player to dismiss.

Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey provide a solid and experienced backbone to the middle-order, while Marcus North (two Tests) at six is still relatively untested at this level.

The tourists' lower order, led by Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, is capable of adding a few as well – as they have showed on several occasions in the past year.

The success of their batting will depend largely on how well England's frontline fast-bowlers – Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom form the attacking trio – emulate past Ashes heroes Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones in getting the ball to reverse swing.

Andrew Flintoff, one of the biggest exponents of reverse swing and a member of that 2005 Ashes winning team, will also be in the England line-up to boost the home side's bowling attack.

The burly all-rounder missed the recent ICC World Twenty20 with an injury sustained in his dismal debut in the Indian Premier League, but looks all set to play a leading role once again.

While Australia's batting has not always been consistent in recent times, their bowling is shaping up well – albeit without a frontline spin-bowler. Although left-arm speedster Johnson has turned into a force in world cricket with his ability to swing the ball both ways.

The tourists welcome back ace bowlers Brett Lee and Stuart Clark from injury, while Peter Siddle also adds serious bite to what is an extremely competent fast-bowling Aussie attack.

The Australians will be expected to use the reverse swing tactic against the hosts this series, after pinching former England bowling coach Troy Cooley in the aftermath of the 2005 Ashes loss.

Nathan Hauritz is the latest player to don the spinner's mantle for the Southern Hemisphere team, and will provide the one weak link for England to attack, if his display in the recent four-day match against Sussex is anything to go by. Unless, of course, the visitors replicate their success in the first two Tests of the South Africa series and opt for an all-out pace attack.

The England batsmen will be severely tested either way, and captain Andrew Strauss will hope his batting form, which thankfully for him seems to improve whenever he has the skipper's armband, can give England the edge.

The troublesome No3 spot, filled by Michael Vaughan in the 2005 series – the 34-year-old confirmed his retirement on Tuesday – has been handed to Ravi Bopara. The Essex all-rounder scored consecutive centuries in England's recent Test series against the West Indies – although the true examination of his credentials will come against the much more accomplished Australian attack.

Kevin Pietersen, meanwhile, will always be up for the fight in a series of this nature, yet England's premier batsman may be hampered slightly after recently recovering from an Achilles injury. The problem flared up before the World Twenty20 opener against Holland last month and fitness may be an issue with the 29-year-old.

A five match series will always test the mettle of the players. With both teams starting the series with no clear advantage, it may just come down to who will crack first.

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