Is Jarryd Hayne a team player?

Clarke confident 'we can beat them'

Australian captain Michael Clarke says he "loves batting first" and playing a powerful England side is a "wonderful challenge". Nine News

For Australia, will it be the imperious command of day one at The Oval, when Shane Watson and Steve Smith belted England's finest to all parts; or the chaos of day five, when only the setting sun prevented the chance of a defeat that wouldn't have been disappointing so much as embarrassing? Will it be the four days of control at Old Trafford, the winning beachheads established at Trent Bridge and Chester-le-Street, or the eviscerating disappointments that followed?

Which of the open endings will England pick up on for their preferred sequel, Ashes II – The Confirmation? The defensive mindset that got them into trouble at home, or the aggression that got them out of it? The steely nerve that won matches, or the automatic pilot that had them drifting through others? Is a better portrayal of England's mentality the jubilant relief following the rain in Manchester, or that other downpour, the player-powered washout of the Oval wicket, when, with the urn in their keeping, possibilities were reduced to mere pissibilities?

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If any side is a beneficiary of having two Ashes series so close together, it is Australia. Life seldom offers the chance to wipe away failure, and in being able to win back the Ashes so soon, the Australians are being presented with one giant mulligan. England, by contrast, might be asking why they must do this all over again.

The proximity of the two series makes it likelier that the recent psychological balance will prevail. But what exactly was that again? Was Australia legitimately in charge of the last three Tests in England, or did the hosts slacken off, only to bite back when threatened, as on the last days in Durham and London? Darren Lehmann is correct when he says the series could easily have finished 3-2 either way; but Stuart Broad is also correct when he says it could just as easily have been 5-0 to England.

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Every man in every street seems to be saying that the first Test in Brisbane will be critical to the overall result. No, the first day. The first session. The first ball. No, before that – the result was decided by how the players slept on Wednesday night! These are the same everyones who say that the tone of a football match is set in the opening 10 minutes. Is it? Andy Flower's England have established a habit of playing their best at the end, not the beginning, of matches and series. Against Australia, England have mastered the art of closing the deal, no matter what has happened in the opening stages. They are a drive for show, putt for dough team. Conversely, scoring the winning run or taking the decisive 20th wicket is what has eluded Australia. Every Australian high in England preceded a low, which is hard to forget when it was only three months ago.

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Mood swings, in the mysterious realm of team mentality, will decide the series. Certainly Watson's performance is a key; the contest between Michael Clarke and the England pacemen is another; Mitchell Johnson can win or lose games; each team might be one injury (to James Anderson or Ryan Harris) from capitulation. But overriding all of those is the invisible, ungraspable, unspeakable factor of holding one's nerve, as an individual, sure, but more than that as a collective, when the match is on the line.

English captain Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke with the Ashes urn. Photo: AFP

So far, England have held theirs, and that's why they deserve favouritism. Australia didn't manage to cross that line in the first series, and won't bring authentic fear to the England dressing room until they have a bite to match their bark.

Of course Brisbane will be vital, and an England win here could be crushing to Australia's fragile self-erected self-confidence, but whatever happens, another Test waits in Adelaide, then three more. Everything comes in a rush. Don't expect all questions to be answered at the Gabba.

The excitement, in any case, is high. Last time it was this high was in the lead-up to Ashes I in Nottingham. It resulted in some gripping but substandard cricket on the first day, when both teams lost the battle with their excitability. The same might happen in Brisbane. But this is a moment to relish excitement, whatever its colour. Those Australian cricket followers who can remember when the opening of an Ashes series brought a bit of a yawn and the remark (to paraphrase Doug Walters), 'Oh no, not this mob to hold us up for 11 days again', should enjoy this underdog feeling. Gone is that cocky expectation mixed with the sneaking but shortlived fear that the Poms may win an undeserved dead rubber. Now, Australian enthusiasts are motivated by hope. And where is life, if not in hope?