Andrew Flintoff is an inexperienced captain. Can he lead from the front to get England back or should the selectors have picked Andrew Strauss as skipper instead to take some of the strain? Was it a huge mistake not to give Monty Panesar his Ashes debut?

And can the ten-day break before the Perth Test give England time to restore their battered morale?

The Perth pitch is said to be an even slower cousin of the Adelaide strip, so does this mean that the conditions will beat both sides and leave England an almost impossible task in the final two Tests?

Is it all about the conditions? Why have the likes of Stuart Clark and Shane Warne prospered while England, with the exception of Matthew Hoggard, have not.

And why did a middle order of Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen that was far too good for the Australian bowlers in the first innings fail so badly in the second?

What can England do to cope with Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and Michael Clarke? And what effect will Warne's triumph in his ongoing battle with Pietersen have for the rest of the series?

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