If they aren’t twitching already then both teams will feel a bit anxious on Wednesday morning. The build-up to the Ashes always starts early, although I reckon 2005 was longer than usual because the one-day games had given people a taste. This time the most nervous guys will be the opening batsmen — as usual — and the spin bowlers on both sides.

With everybody saying the pitch will turn, there is a lot of expectation on Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar and Nathan Hauritz. They are going to play a huge part over the next week. Although there is no escaping that fact, they have to make sure they don’t put too much pressure on themselves so they are able to do their jobs.

Whatever the speculation, Hauritz has to play for Australia, especially at Cardiff, with Marcus North, Simon Katich and Michael Clarke in support. I actually think this is England’s best chance of winning because of the conditions. Edgbaston may favour them as well, but I think Lord’s, Headingley and the Oval will suit Australia.

There isn’t a lot between Hauritz and Swann. The difference is in their attitude. Swann has his confidence up and has been bowling pretty well lately in spin-friendly conditions against the left-handers. Hauritz has been finding his way in England and is trying to cement his spot in the team. Self-belief is very important.

Swann’s character could really get under the skin of the Australians and if I was the England captain, I would give him full licence to be himself. He isn’t to everyone’s taste. If he is dictating terms, he will have a strut about him and that arrogance and cockiness will be obvious. In that state, he could disrupt Australia’s rhythm.

But when his confidence is down, as with all players, he is not so effective. I think Australia have to try to bring him down to size by taking him on straight away. Michael Clarke has a key role there because he is our best player of spin. His footwork is top- drawer and he could knock Swann seriously off kilter.

Tours with five or six games before the first Test have long gone, but I reckon Australia will be happy with their preparation. It looks as though they were given two really competitive games by Sussex and England Lions. Any questions being asked about the team a fortnight ago have probably been answered.

A few people seem to be getting excited about the way Steve Harmison dismissed Phil Hughes twice with short balls at Worcester last week. It seems pretty obvious now that England will go at him hard again with bouncers early on and use body language and a few verbals to make his Ashes debut as uncomfortable as they can.

That’s a fair tactic, but I think they need to keep what happened in perspective. When Harmison is bowling short and fast, getting that horrible, steep bounce with the new ball, he makes life nasty for any batsman. If he is fit and keen, he would be in my team every time and I’m a bit surprised not to see him in England’s squad.

He does offer something different. When I think back to 2005 — which I don’t do unless I have to — what stands out is the variety in the England attack: right-arm swing from Matthew Hoggard, pace and bounce from Harmison, reverse swing at speed from Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff angling it in awkwardly to the right-handers.

Both sides will be comfortable with their batting but more concerned about how to take 20 wickets. I do think that Australia have bases covered in the pace department, with Mitchell Johnson bowling left-arm and swinging it back into the right-hander to work with the hustle and bustle of Peter Siddle, with Brett Lee swinging it at 150kmh (about 93mph).

As for Hughes, he will have faced the short stuff before in his career and, let’s be honest, his record so far is fantastic. South Africa are no slouches on their own pitches and he did pretty well over there. I just feel that if there really was a serious chink in his armour, it would have been spotted and exposed by now.

He does give himself room to score through the off side, but that is just his way of playing. There are many different ways of scoring runs. Where I think he could struggle is with balls swinging in; he could be a leg-before candidate. It may be good for Australia if England do take him on with the short stuff. I’m sure he will cope.

Lord’s the perfect place to throw in my hand

Things might get a bit emotional today. Rajasthan Royals, my Indian Premier League team, are playing Middlesex Panthers in a Twenty20 match at Lord’s in aid of the British Asian Trust and I reckon it will be my last appearance as a player in this country. It should be a cracking game and a great way to say thanks for all the fantastic times that I’ve had at the ground.

I arrived yesterday after the first round of the World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas, having won 87,625 in chips against an average of 42,000. It means that I’m still in the tournament and will fly back to the States straight after the Royals game — hopefully with another win under my belt.