Only one man has been on the victorious side in both of the most recent Ashes series and it still beggars belief that Troy Cooley was allowed to slip through England's fingers and return home as Australia's bowling coach, just three months after the 2005 win.

Cooley is here again with Australia this summer, priming Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee et al as he did Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Stephen Harmison four years ago.

But the loss of Cooley was partially offset by the ECB in October last year when it recruited Dene Hills, one of the bright young things of Australia's coaching set-up, to become its lead batting coach.

Like Cooley, Hills is Tasmanian and has earned his stripes as a senior coach at Cricket Australia's Centre for Excellence in Brisbane, a role that included stints as assistant coach to the national team. In October, though, he was poached by the old enemy, defecting in the footsteps of Cooley and Rod Marsh, who set up the ECB's academy in 2001.

“I had a good talk to Troy before I took the job,” Hills, 38, said. “I asked him what it was like over here, how the system worked. He had only positive things to say. It was a big decision to move here with Alex [his fiancée] and Lucas [his two-year-old son], but it's a great challenge and we're really enjoying it.”

It will be strange for Hills next week when he takes his place in the England Lions dressing room at Worcester for their match against Australia, the touring team's final warm-up game before the Ashes. Among the players he must now call the opposition will be Ricky Ponting, his friend and former Tasmania team-mate.

As a left-handed opening batsman, Hills enjoyed a successful career for Tasmania from 1991 to 2002, averaging more than 40 but never achieving higher representative honours than Australia A. After his retirement, he spent a year in banking before Tasmania enticed him back as assistant coach in 2003. Within two years, Cricket Australia had come calling and Hills soon found himself working with the national team.

In coaching terms, his rise has been rapid, but his relative youth remains a real asset. Cooley's strengths lay not so much in his biomechanical expertise - although that was considerable - as in the way he communicated it to England's fast bowlers. He became a mate as well as a coach, without compromising his authority, and they responded accordingly.

Given Hills's recent involvement with Australia, it is certain that Andy Flower, the England team director, will be picking his brains for inside information this summer. “That's one aspect of my job,” Hills said, a little reluctantly. “My main role is to make sure that the next set of English batsmen are progressing, but I'll be happy to assist the national team if required. I'm a pro coach and I'm working for the ECB now.”

He has already helped to persuade John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, to take a short-term consultancy role with the ECB before the Ashes, but there is more to Hills's job than industrial espionage. He is implementing a development programme for the country's best young batsmen and has worked briefly with Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell. As a coach, he believes in tinkering with players' techniques only when absolutely necessary.

“There's often a difference between what a batsman wants and what he really needs,” he says.

There is sure to be a warm handshake when he renews acquaintances with Ponting next week.Hills suggests that the Australia captain may have mellowed a little, having become a father to Emmy 11 months ago.

“Ricky's life has changed,” Hills said. “He might not be scoring quite as many runs now, but he'll still be the No 1 wicket for England to take.

“It'll be unusual to be on the other side from him. I'd better make sure I walk into the right dressing room.”