Waugh is the weakest link

Moments of brilliance like that aside, though, Australia's leader has to do little more than toss the ball either to Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne and wait for the wickets to tumble. They are that good and, until they retire, Australia will continue to be invincible.

England have done their homework on Waugh and, while they will not admit it, they see him as being the one weakness in the Australian side. This is because Waugh's vulnerability now appears to be undermining the confidence of the batsmen around him and it was intriguing to watch the reaction of Damien Martyn when Waugh joined him at the crease in Australia's first innings in Brisbane.

Suddenly Martyn, who is one of the most fluent batsmen in the game, was reduced to scratching around, desperately searching for runs as Waugh's uncertainty helped lift England's bowlers.

Waugh's position is potentially weakened by the break that follows the Third Test in Perth. The triangular one-day jaunt, also involving Sri Lanka, then kicks off for three weeks and Waugh has already been dropped from Australia's one-day squad, which is led by Ricky Ponting.

If Australia have already secured the Ashes by then, and England have continued to expose Waugh's batting, this might be the time Australia's ruthless selectors decide to make the change that would bring Waugh's remarkable career to an end.

Already, the media here are latching on to Waugh's predicament as being the most interesting story in this Ashes series, and not all of it is friendly. Malcolm Conn, the cricket correspondent for The Australian newspaper, asked Waugh if he felt like a batsman who scored a century in his last Test before the Ashes against Pakistan, or one who was out of form. "Doesn't really matter what I say," Waugh replied. "I know which slant you'll take." Clearly, he is feeling the pressure.

THE Waugh scenario is full of ifs and buts, but the one thing we can be sure of is that Australia will thrash England again this week, unless there is a dramatic change of attitude within the dressingroom. Nasser Hussain said what we all felt to be the case in Brisbane: that his players were unduly nervous. Even so, it is a worrying admission for the captain to make.

Even a man as composed as Michael Vaughan, who had the applause for his remarkable summer still ringing in his ears, inexplicably misfielded the second ball of the match, which produced Australia's first run.

His attempt to catch Matthew Hayden later that day was one of the most embarrassing I have ever seen.

Hussain tried to explain it by saying that his team are inexperienced. In fact, that is not true at all. The Brisbane line-up averaged-40 Test caps each. What Hussain should have said was that his team is inexperienced at playing against Australia, and the aggressive, unforgiving, arrogant and brilliant cricket they expose their opponents to, time and again.

Only the experience of playing here, surviving the ordeal and then using it to one's advantage will enable England's cricketers to compete on equal terms in the 2005 Ashes series.

There are times when nerves can be channelled positively and others (such as the nightmarish opening day at Brisbane) when they consume and destroy you.

England's cricketers, that morning, were intimidated, possibly because there was no means of breaking the unbearable tension in the dressing-room before Hussain led them on to the field. This is an area in which Darren Gough will be missed.

When I look at the squad, I do not see anyone who is capable of breaking the ice. Gough is no natural wit, just a character whose presence was often a beneficial distraction. "Why do they call you Rhino, Goughie?" asked one nervous debutant one morning. "Because I'm as strong as an ox, that's why!" retorted Gough, who could not understand why his team-mates then fell about laughing.

I will bet there was not a single moment of humour that first morning at The Gabba, just 11 players chewing their fingernails. The result was there for everyone to see.

Gough's tour has finally come to an end and so too, probably, his international career. I remember suggesting last summer that he should not be considered for the Ashes but should instead concentrate purely on being fit for the World Cup in February.

With only 10 overs to bowl in every match and at least three days off between each game, there was every chance he could have been patched up and seen the tournament through.

No one else seemed to feel that was a very good idea, but Gough will now miss the World Cup as well and I remain convinced he could have played a vital role.

Something fishy about this lot

After numerous visits here which have consisted of nothing but airport lounges, cricket grounds and hotel rooms, I am doing my best this winter to get off the beaten track and see something of the real Australia.

Ayers Rock is finally on the itinerary as we make one of our several crossings over this vast country. And a crazy pilot friend of mine is flying me in a light aircraft into the harsh environment of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia to get a taste of life in the Outback.

While I was commentating in a studio full of increasingly gleeful Australians at The Gabba, I was avidly looking forward to my immediate escape to Noosa: a two-hour drive north of Brisbane and, supposedly, Australia's Mediterranean.

Foolishly I mentioned this on air. Within moments, and just as England lost their eighth wicket, Kerry O'Keefe whipped out a newspaper cutting. "Smelly invasion drives tourists off the beach" was the headline, followed by a graphic report of a foulsmelling seaweed that was being washed up on Noosa's beautiful, sandy beach.

"It's the worst we've ever known," one local said. "It's putting everyone off their food because it's like a giant, stinking fish!"

I am now into my third day at Noosa and the stench is indeed stomachwrenchingly awful. So bad, in fact, that I am almost looking forward to the Adelaide Test.

Old stars happy to take the mike

It only takes a quick glance into a media centre at a Test match these days to see how times have changed.

Former players spectacularly outnumber genuine card-carrying journalists and relations between the two groups are not always as cordial as they might be.

This Ashes tour must have broken all records for the sheer number of past Test players who are reporting in some capacity: Mike Selvey, Derek Pringle, Vic Marks, Angus Fraser, Bob Willis, Paul Allott, David Gower, Ian Botham, David Lloyd, Jeff Thomson, Kerry O'Keefe, Geoff Lawson, Tony Greig, Simon O'Donnell, Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry, Mark Taylor, Mike Atherton, Keith Stackpole, Mark Waugh, Ian Healy, Dennis Lillee, Merv Hughes, Terry Alderman, Bob Massie, Dean Jones, Terry Jenner. Oh, and yours truly, of course!