Ashes seam ours

Nasser Hussain says England's superior bowling attack will prove the difference in this summer's Ashes.

Pietersen's attack will eclipse confused Australia

Nasser Hussain believes seamers Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison can fire England to Ashes glory in 2009. The pair shared 41 wickets against Australia in 2005, while fellow seamers Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard bagged 18 and 16 apiece, as England won the urn in one of the greatest series of modern times. Sky Sports pundit Hussain says the pair can blitz Ricky Ponting's side again this summer as Australia, who have suffered back-to-back series defeats to India and South Africa in recent months, strive to rebuild. "England will definitely be the happier going into 2009," said Hussain. "I think they are very close to being a very fine Test team; they are not quite as ruthless as they should be but they have most of the pieces of their jigsaw in place. "In contrast, Australia are completely confused about what direction to go in. They are missing Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and the rest badly. You just can't replace those cricketers and Ricky Ponting is finding out that Test cricket is seriously difficult. "Everyone's already talking about the Ashes because they are waiting to see if this bad run of results is just a blip in Australian cricket or is there a terminal demise. Hence, this series is even more important and everyone around the world will be watching. "Australia's batsmen are likely to have all played in England so they will score runs but I do worry about their bowling. In 2005 England worked out how to take 20 wickets with a five-man attack. Four fast bowlers battering Australia, reverse swing. There was no let-up. "If the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson can step up alongside Harmison and Flintoff then I think England will have the edge in the bowling and will win 2-1."

In a spin

Australian seamers Brett Lee and Stuart Clark will both miss this week's third and final Test against the Proteas due to injury but Hussain believes the lack of an effective spinner will be of greater long-term concern to Ponting.
"The cupboard is so bare that there are even rumours Warne might be contemplating a comeback," said Hussain, "but I'd be very, very surprised if he came back. "When you are a great cricketer like Shane Warne and you are retired you should stay retired. The only thing that might entice him back is the captaincy. I know he was desperate to be Australian captain. "He was probably one of the best captains who has never led their side on a regular basis. He was a fantastic leader of men."

Ruthless

Former England captain Hussain is looking forward to seeing Ponting go head-to-head with Kevin Pietersen, who he feels has made an impressive start as England captain despite Test series defeats at home to South Africa and away in India. "There have been times when he could have attacked or defended more but as a captain you have good and bad days, but as long as you learn from that," he said, "but the responsibility hasn't affected his batting; if anything his batting has slightly improved.
"The one time I felt it did affect him was in the first Test in India following the terrorist attacks when he had to be a politician of the field and forgot to concentrate on his own game. But he put that right in the second Test. He's going to need his senior players around him. "The one problem England need to solve is a mental one: they need to be more ruthless. If you go back to Adelaide in the last Test Series against Australia, England were winning and they lost that game from that position. They were in a very comfortable position a month ago in Chennai and all of a sudden they lose the game."

Hybrid

Batsman Ian Bell retained his place in the England squad for the tour of the West Indies despite averaging only 21 in the 2-0 Test defeat and Hussain said: "I don't think the demise of Bell is as profound as people make out. He is a very good player. "You wish you could make an Ian Bell-Paul Collingwood hybrid, really, that combined the toughness of Collingwood with the class of Bell. But you can't hence Bell will have to get tougher otherwise someone like Owais Shah or even Michael Vaughan could eventually come back and replace him."

Ones to watch

Aside from the Ashes, 2009 will feature a wealth of cricket including the ICC World Twenty20 in England. Here are Nasser's stars to watch out for in 2009. Joe Denly, Kent "I think he's had a couple of seasons now where he has found his feet; he had a little patch the season before last where he faded away but last season I thought he was superb in all forms of the game at the top of the order with Rob Key. He looks like a player that can adapt to one-day cricket, Twenty20 cricket and four-day cricket. He has a good head on his shoulders.
"He's always trying to get away in the winter to develop himself as a person, as a cricketer; he talks well about the game, he understands it. It's up to someone like Joe Denly to have that massive season, the sort of Mark Ramprakash season that a lot of young players don't seem to produce these days where they get big hundreds and double hundreds." Tim Bresnan, Yorkshire/Sajid Mahmood, Lancashire/Liam Plunkett, Durham "There are a few bowlers who are re-emerging onto the scene who I think England will be keeping a close eye on - you are talking about players who have been away and come back so the likes of the Bresnans, the Saj Mahmoods, the Liam Plunketts. Those sorts of bowlers. I'm sure the England selectors will be keeping an eye on those sorts of bowlers." James Foster, Essex "You speak to a lot of players around the county circuit, you go to games and you watch him and when the big games are there he does well. There's a Twenty20 World Cup in England this year so why don't you pick someone that plays and does well in that format of the game? "Maybe the selectors feel his time has gone but he got four hundreds towards the end of the season for Essex in Championship and other cricket and unless Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose really finish the winter well in the Caribbean it might be James Foster's time."