Thursday 2 July 2015 19:00, UK
Former Australia Test bowler Jeff Thomson says Michael Clarke’s side will find it hard work to retain the Ashes urn on English soil.
The Investec Ashes series begins in Cardiff on July 8 and, despite winning the last series with a whitewash, Thomson says Australia won’t find it so easy away from home.
“We (Australia) haven’t won here for 14 years – so we’ve got a bit of scar tissue there, if you want to call it that,” said Thomson who played for Australia between 1972-1986.
“You play at home in Australia it’s a lot different to coming here. Whenever we came (to England) from Australia, (Dennis) Lillee and myself, it was hard work.
They had the same team that we flogged in Australia and we came here and it was hard, really uphill work, trying to win a match.”
England's hopes of capitalising on home soil have been bolstered with an upturn in form, with the recent one-day series win over New Zealand revitalising hopes that England can erase the memories of the 5-0 loss in Australia.
But to win back the urn will take hard graft, says Thomson, and England will need to have learned from their mistakes if they are to reverse the result from 2014.
“I don’t think it’s psychological, I don’t think it’s scars or anything like that,” Thomson added.
“They’re all good players these days so it’s a matter of adjusting to what you did wrong, it’s correcting the mistakes you made when you go into the next one.
“If you’re a good player, a top player like these guys are, you go home and do your homework about what you did wrong and improve on that.
“I’m sure England will have done that from the Australian tour.”
The first Investec Ashes Test is live from Cardiff on our dedicated Sky Sports Ashes channel, with coverage beginning at 10am on Wednesday July 8.
