Strauss's men look so superior in quest to retain urn

That much is clear after the first Test in Brisbane finished as a draw.

The Australians are hardly pushovers; no side with Ricky Ponting in their ranks could be regarded as such.

But they are eminently beatable by an England team who appear superior in most departments.

Whether England capitalise on Australia's fragility remains to be seen.

Not since 1986-87 have they won the Ashes Down Under.

But pre-series predictions that this represents their best chance since the Mike Gatting tour of 24 years ago look absolutely right.

Even more so when one considers England, as current holders, need only to draw to retain the urn.

After five days of fascinating, fluctuating combat in Brisbane, the only winner was the pitch, which proved itself a kindred spirit of Headingley Carnegie.

How often have Yorkshire and their opponents struggled to take second innings wickets on a Leeds surface that stubbornly refuses to deteriorate?

Ditto England and Australia on a Gabba pitch that possessed more cracks than Headingley's roads, but which paradoxically failed to give bowlers much help.

In reply to England's second innings 517-1, Australia made 107-1 as the game petered out in an orgy of runs.

England's total, founded on a brilliant double hundred from Alastair Cook and splendid centuries by Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, made a mockery of their first innings score, when they were bundled out for 260 after winning the toss.

That below-par effort was due more to English inadequacy than Australian inspiration, although Peter Siddle's hat-trick will live in the memory.

Siddle bowled some fine stuff on his way to 6-54, but there was little else to cause England concern.

Mitchell Johnson is so wayward he makes Steve Harmison look like Brian Statham, while Xavier Doherty is not a Test-class spinner.

On the evidence of Brisbane, England look by far the likeliest to take 20 wickets.

James Anderson bowled arguably his best-ever spell during the Australian first innings, when he had no luck at all and made the ball talk.

Stuart Broad also troubled the batsmen in effective partnership with the Lancashire bowler.

Steven Finn marked his first Ashes Test with a six-wicket haul, cleaning up after Anderson

and Broad had done the hard yards.

And although Graeme Swann had an ordinary game by his standards, he still looked more threatening than spin rival Doherty, who has a first-class bowling average of 48.86.

Although back-to-back Tests will put pressure on England's attack, which could mean opportunities for Yorkshire bowlers Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, it is Australia who have the greater worries.

Johnson is supposedly the bowling spearhead but now faces stiff competition from Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris to play in the second Test at Adelaide, starting on Friday.

Surely the only ones hoping Johnson gets the nod are England's batsmen, who played him with comfort and occasionally contempt.

Johnson returned match figures of 0-170, dropped a sitter and made a duck in a nightmare performance.

For my money, Bollinger and Harris should play at Adelaide in favour of Johnson and Doherty.

If Nathan Hauritz is not deemed up to scratch, Marcus North can provide the slow stuff in a side more likely to pose problems with pace than spin.

The dilemma for Australia is that Johnson is still their biggest X-factor player and it would damage his confidence to drop him now.

That said, Ponting can ill-afford another X-rated display at Adelaide from a man who was not so long ago International Cricketer of the Year.

In contrast, England's most pressing concern is to make sure they score bigger runs in their first innings.

Only Ian Bell and Cook passed 50 in the first dig at Brisbane, and the tourists cannot rely on 517-1 recoveries occurring more often than once in a blue moon.

With Cook having emphatically answered his critics by scoring 302 runs in the match, attention shifts to the likes of Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior, who made 4 and 0, respectively, in the first innings at the Gabba.

Collingwood will have happy memories of his last visit to Adelaide, when he scored 206, but Prior was comprehensively outgunned in Brisbane by his opposite number Brad Haddin, who is more than just a poor man's Adam Gilchrist.

Aside from Siddle's display, the only real positive for Australia was the 307-run first innings partnership between Haddin and Mike Hussey.

And how refreshing, incidentally, to see Cook celebrate his double hundred with dignified calm as opposed to the ridiculous whooping and hollering of Hussey, whose over-reaction to reaching three figures was vomit-inducing.

"Mr Cricket" might be the nicest bloke in the world for all I know, but there is something distinctly irritating about sportsmen who rejoice so blatantly in personal milestones.

There were two other notable features at Brisbane: the Australian fielding, which was embarrassing at times, and the small number of Aussie spectators who watched the denouement.

The majority of those present on day five were English, which created a home from home for Strauss and his players.

Perhaps the Australian public have cottoned on to what the rest of us already know.

Namely, that Australia – for so long the head honchos of international cricket – are now paid-up members of the rank-and-file.