With Australia heavily favoured in the months leading up to the Ashes 2010 series, which gets underway later today in Brisbane, England were widely touted as the underdogs in the Ashes betting markets. However, as the days leading up to the action have come and gone, England have grown in confidence and the Aussies have slipped the other way, seemingly mired in instability and a lack of confidence emphasised by outrageous comments in certain elements of the hosts' media.
Now, support for the English is coming from all corners of the cricketing world, with Sir Ian Botham predicting live on English television that England should return home complete with the famous little urn they brought over with them. Botham's confidence in England appears to revolve around the near perfect preparation that the tourists have experienced, with the batsmen getting runs, the bowlers getting wickets, and a high standard of fielding being displayed in the crucial weeks leading up to the action.
Botham contrasted this momentum that England seem to have gathered to the confusion that seems to be disrupting the preparation of the Australians. However, before the England players get too carried away by such proclamations of support, they should take careful notice of Botham's assertion that the hosts will "come out fighting". For some teams, and the Aussies are no different, being written off, particularly by your own media and fans, provides the ideal motivation with which to prove doubters wrong.
If complacency creeps into the English game as the action in Brisbane gets underway and they start to believe their own hype, Botham and the other vocal English supporters could find themselves regretting such early confidence.
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