Lillee: Marsh will get England flying again

Hard-nosed Aussies want England to be competitive if only to derive more pleasure from beating them, but Lillee sees signs of hope. The 53-year-old admires England's young quick bowlers such as James Anderson, Simon Jones and Steve Harmison, and believes Marsh can get the best out of them. Fast bowlers are a rare breed who stick together and Lillee wishes them all the best.

He said: "England will win the Ashes again because everything changes. Anderson has come from the Lancashire leagues to Test cricket in 12 months which is amazing. I can't say he's got what it takes, but he's got a real chance.

"With Jones in the background and Darren Gough maybe coming back England have a bloody good squad of quicks. Harmison's got a little-glitch in his action, but is coming down from 6ft 9in which is not a bad advantage.

Top batsmen always reckon it's not pace or swing that really worries them but bounce.

"I've not seen too much of Jones but he looked fantastic before his injury (ruptured knee ligaments during the First Test in Brisbane). Ashley Giles is handy as well so the bowling's not looking too bad. In all the boxes the crosses are in the right place."

Despite his ultra-aggressive appearance, the flowing mane, bristling moustache and that striking red headband, Lillee was a thinking fast bowler. His 355 Test wickets were often the product of intelligent planning as much as pure pace and it's no surprise he has juggled a successful business career with coaching.

Lillee's fast-bowling school in Madras has produced bowlers of the calibre of Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan, while his involvement in the Pace Australia programme has brought on Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. He said: "We have to remember that all players are individuals. Jeff Thomson hardly trained but never broke down because he was amazingly fit and naturally strong. We're all built differently and even walk differently. I'm not Charlie Chaplin.

"I favoured a rotation system for the quicks in Australia 10 years ago and they seem to be doing that. America leads the way in most things and look what they do with their ( baseball) pitchers. They won't let anyone pitch more than three days in a row and that's got to mean something."

Although retirement has mellowed him, he has no regrets about his approach on the field. He said: "It's something that's in me and gave me the edge - I even played Monopoly with aggression. My wife hates playing against me because I have to win.

"I had to do the best I could and occasionally blew over, but I don't apologise for that.

"I did some stupid things in my time, like the tussle with Javed Miandad and throwing the aluminium bat, but there were two sides to every story. I was always provoked."