FOR Cardiff 2009 read any number of other gruesome Ashes openers. Leeds 1989, Edgbaston 2001 and Brisbane 2006 all spring to a reluctant mind. All those games were lost by England and, ultimately, the series too. This is what Australians might call putting down a marker to the Poms.

Given the history of this fixture, the Australians know it does not always take much to bring out the old insecurities in the English. England teams know they usually lose to Australia. It is not quite expected but it is hardly unusual. And once they get on a slide against the Aussies, usually they can be relied on to tear themselves apart in a fit of shame and frustration.

This could be the case again this time, because while everyone in England wants to remember 2005 there was a meeting between the two teams after that, in Australia three winters ago. It didn’t get much coverage of course, and it is hard to find documentary proof of what happened, but it is believed that Australia won 5-0.

A crushing Australian victory in Cardiff today might remind everyone what really happened Down Under in 2006-07 and before you know it there will be a horrible sense of “Here We Go Again” pervading the England dressing-room.

Ricky Ponting understands this better than anyone. In three of the past four Ashes series he has scored centuries in the opening games — 123 at Brisbane in 2002, 196 on the same ground in 2006 and 150 in this game.

What Ponting, booed to the crease on Thursday, is aiming to do is not simply beat England but crush out of them every last vestige of self-respect. Even if Australia are unable to finish the job today, England’s bowlers have no chance of redeeming themselves. They will go to Lord’s with morale dragging along the floor after mustering just five wickets in 181 overs. Graeme Swann, of whom there were high hopes, returned nought for 131.

At Brisbane in 2006, Ponting supervised an equally devastating demolition job. His 196 came in an Australian first innings score of 602. But that wasn’t enough. Ponting opted for Australia to bat again before sportingly leaving England 648 to win. Long before the end of the game the Gabba had been dubbed the Gabbatoir.

It took the astonishing turnaround in Adelaide in the second Test to break England’s spirit completely but that opening match went a long way towards setting a tone of Baggy Green domination. The big mistake Ponting’s side made in 2005 was that although they won the first Test at Lord’s, they were unable to convince the English they were beaten men. England came away with genuine hopes that things could be turned around, which they were.

Perhaps the closest parallel with the situation now is the 1989 series, when a new-look Australia came to England under a seasoned captain, Allan Border, and confounded predictions that they were colourless and untalented. They made their mark in the first Test, pulling off an audacious win on the final day by bowling out England in two sessions.

Such performances establish an aura of invincibility. Much has been made of Australia having lost their old aura with the retirement of their “legends”. But what Cardiff 2009 is doing is creating a fresh one. This Australian side have just got a lot harder to beat.