Ashes Frenzy – Who’s saying what in the Sunday Papers

Well, its the final Sunday before the first Ashes test and the English broad sheets have gone into over drive. 

A number of ex-players and coaches have chipped in.  Here is the best I could find:

The Daily Telegraph

Telegraph | Sport | Australia hold batting aces

Australia's batting is as near to being a certainty as anything in cricket can be. Their Test averages are not mere statistics so much as indices of their worth. Their top seven, down to (or up to) Adam Gilchrist, average 349 between them. Throw in Warne, who has made two hundreds for Hampshire this season, along with extras and their three pace bowlers, and their average total will exceed 400.

Former South African coach Bob Woolmer see’s it differently.  For him the key is Adam Gilchrist:

Telegraph | Sport | Woolmer: Gilchrist is the key

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach and former England batsman, believes England can win the Ashes if they restrain Australia's explosive No 7, Adam Gilchrist, and unsettle him with prolonged and well-directed hostile bowling rather than submit to his savagery.

Vic Marks is upbeat about England’s chances in the forthcoming series:

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Special reports | Aggressive England set their sights on the Ashes

Yet this is the best and most settled England side to take on Australia for almost two decades.

Geoff Lawson discusses how Ricky Ponting battled with his personal demons in the earlier stages of his career:

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Special reports | Profile: Ricky Ponting

After the Kings Cross incident, during which a rather large Polynesian gentleman used his nose as a glove puppet, the easy-going Tasmanian admitted he had a drink problem.

The Gaffer Alex Stewart is interviewed in the Guardian and starts with a positive sentiment:

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Special reports | Ashes interview: Alec Stewart

'I played seven Ashes series against Australia and lost all seven,' Stewart says

Shane Warne writing in the times has provided a compact analysis of the England team:

Cricket news, comment and results from The Times and The Sunday Times -- Times Online Sport

Pietersen in the line of fire
By Shane Warne