Whether that method includes making changes to their line-up will be one of the most fascinating tableaus between now and 30 July, when Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss swap their team-sheets at the toss.

Besides naming Pietersen's replacement, most probably Ian Bell, and possibly recalling Steve Harmison for Graham Onions, England's position is straightforward, with Andrew Flintoff hopefully fit enough to play.

Australia, on the other hand, have a problem with a bowling attack that has failed to take 20 wickets in either concluded Test and looked a man light at times (there are four of them to England's five).

Johnson, scourge of South Africa in Australia's impressive 2-1 series win over there in March, has been so lacking in accuracy there were times - particularly at Lord's - when it was tempting to check whether he was bowling with a blindfold on or not.

The official line doled out from within Cricket Australia is that the team played well in South Africa and Cardiff, that Lord's was an unwelcome blip, and that they will not be rushed into changes for the sake of it now.

One or two commentators take the view that Johnson (16 wickets at 25.00 in South Africa, but eight at 41.37 in this series) must be persevered with, come what may.

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell said on Test Match Special last week: "You can't really see Australia winning this series without Johnson being at his best."

And multiple Ashes winner Jason Gillespie told me during a break from his 5 Live duties: "I just think he's trying too hard, simple as. You don't lose your skills overnight, it doesn't happen. He hasn't been bowling his best - he'd be the first to acknowledge that, but put it down purely to a young bloke trying far too hard."

I also caught up with Andy Bichel, the former Australia fast bowler who played in the 2002-03 series.

He said Australia's bowlers collectively felt nervous at Lord's, and that Johnson felt extra pressure: "He's just come into the role of being a leader now and he's got to digest that. He needs a bit if sympathy. If he's bowling badly and still taking wickets he's probably OK."

But perhaps the most pertinent view came from England's James Anderson, who has scored a few runs off the bowler: "I can see he's thinking about his technique and action a lot, and if you're thinking about that in the middle it can have a detrimental effect on the way you bowl."

Australia's options are myriad. If the Edgbaston wicket starts damp, which may be the case given the groundsman's concerns on the issue, they could lose their specialist spinner Nathan Hauritz, and bring in a fourth seamer - perhaps Stuart Clark.
In some senses it seems remarkable that Clark, who was the leading wicket-taker in the 2006-07 Ashes and is still rated fourth in the world in the Test rankings, cannot get into the side at the moment.

However the word is that he has started to look like the 33-year-old bowler he is, has consequently lost a bit of pace, and is not the threat he was two years ago.

Bichel does not quite see it that way: "I did some work with Stuart before he came over here and he was looking really, really good and still has a big future in this Test series.

"We are going to need more than three [seam] bowlers in this Test series. I am enjoying the loyalty to the players who have done it just recently but they are going to need [Clark] at some stage. He's a good bowler, we've seen what he's done. He'll find his way into this series somewhere."

Gillespie says Clark will "definitely come into the reckoning", not least because of the injury cloud hanging over Shane Watson and Brett Lee.

The balance of Australia's squad has led to plenty of anxiety down under. One former Test player, Rodney Hogg, called it "probably the worst-balanced squad in the history of the Ashes".

One alarming characteristic is there is no obvious spare batsman, although Shane Watson - despite holding a Test average of 19.76 - is officially in the squad more for his batting than his bowling.

Having recovered from a thigh injury, Watson will look to have a big game in the tour match starting on Friday in Northampton, and notion has been aired that he could yet replace the struggling Phillip Hughes as the Test opener - however strange that may appear.

By doing that, Australia would beef up their seam-bowling resources - but at what cost to their batting? It might be seriously tough on the number six Marcus North for him to be dropped for Watson, given that North made a century at Cardiff. But it would be a more logical step.

What Australia really need right now is Brett Lee, given how brilliantly he bowled against the Lions. But the side injury that developed during that game and consequently ruled him out of the first two Tests has refused to go away.

It is unlikely that he will bowl at Northampton, which suggests Edgbaston will also come too soon - and there are very real fears he will play no part at all in the Ashes.

No Lee v Pietersen to look forward to in the remaining three Tests? That might be a slight dampener for some, but as this Ashes reaches its fulcrum there are plenty of other mouth-watering duels to look forward to.

When Andrew Flintoff - surely bowling as well as any man has at Lord's - picked up the ninth wicket of the Australian innings, he dropped to one knee, and with his arms outstretched held the pose as he faced the spectators in the Mound and Tavern Stands.

Every day, every single little thing he did had been raucously cheered by spectators inebriated by his brilliance. So it was ironic that he was the one genuflecting to them, his besotted followers.

The fans had come knowing that in the years to come they would be able to tell their grandchildren that they watched Flintoff's last Test at Lord's. The cherry on the trifle, of course, was that their hero was providing the man-of-the-match performance in England's first win against Australia at headquarters since 1934, and only their second since 1896.

There had been criticism of the timing of Flintoff's announcement that he would play no further Test cricket after this current series, Australia's captain Ricky Ponting pointing out that this tour of last hurrahs might turn into a distracting "circus".

But if the Lord's experience is anything to go by, spectators can look forward to seeing performances that are less Coco the Clown and more Maximus Decimus Meridius. How appropriate, then, that Russell Crowe attended a day of this Test.

In his 77th Test, Flintoff had pulled out only the third five-wicket haul of his career. Having already sent down 29 overs previously in the match, he bowled another 60 deliveries early on Monday, plus the odd no-ball, at an average speed of 90mph. Did he bowl a single ball that did not ask serious questions of every batsman who faced him? I doubt it.

But it was not all about Flintoff. Andrew Strauss's big century, James Anderson's four wickets on Friday, the confident batting of Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, and Graeme Swann's 4-87 were all important pieces of an England jigsaw that is coming together nicely.

At lunch on day five in Cardiff, with Australia apparently on course to go 1-0 up in the series, that same puzzle had been upended, in hundreds of pieces, on to the carpet. In 10 days' time, assuming the injury niggles to three or four players can be sorted out, we will see the same 11 players taking on Australia at Edgbaston.

Now, the problem-solving will be in Ricky Ponting's camp. In post-match interviews, the Australian captain offered strong suggestions he would not be keen to either drop the misfiring Mitchell Johnson or shake up the team in any other way.

Strong performances from any one of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark or Shane Watson at Northampton - perhaps even Andrew McDonald - may change that thinking.

Andrew Strauss - 9

A wonderful century on the first day set the tone beautifully, and it looked even better when Australia folded so rapidly on the second day. His captaincy is fast improving, though he perhaps let the game drift a little on the fourth afternoon with some defensive field placings.

Alastair Cook - 8

Scored quickly in both innings on a ground that has served him well in the past. Looking much better outside off-stump and dealt with the short stuff really well. It's the straight one that's the only problem.

Ravi Bopara - 4

Got a pretty good ball before he had really established himself in the first innings, but made very heavy weather in the second innings with little pressure on England - and frankly looked a little out of nick.

Kevin Pietersen - 6

There is no doubt that the various injections Pietersen has had to ease the pain in his Achilles is affecting the way he moves at the crease. Still, scores of 32 and 44 meant this was no total disaster for KP.

Paul Collingwood - 6

Perhaps the most culpable batsman in the first innings, when he clearly gave his wicket away, he then helped step on the gas when England were stalling on Saturday. Remains a key figure this series.

Matt Prior - 8

Batted quite beautifully late on the third day, with consummate timing and placement. Had one of his best matches with the gloves and is beginning to justify the selectors' faith in his all-round ability.

Andrew Flintoff - 9

Produced some outstanding spells of uninhibited pace-bowling, despite being far from 100% fit. His 10-over burst on the final day, in which he took three wickets, will live long in the memory.

Stuart Broad - 7

Took the massive wicket of Ricky Ponting straight after lunch on day four and also struck twice in quick succession with the short ball in a fine spell on Friday.

Graeme Swann - 8

Came into the match under plenty of pressure, but silenced those doubts with four wickets in two very fine spells late in the match. His life was made easier by the discipline of the seamers.

James Anderson - 8

Memorably removed four of Australia's top six on Friday as he swung the ball both ways and created so many doubts. Unlucky not to pick up a wicket or two in the second innings.

Graham Onions - 7

Lightly bowled in the second innings, when he seemed to have an injury, he played his part earlier in the match - removing Simon Katich in Australia's first innings, and taking the last two wickets.

AUSTRALIA

Phillip Hughes - 4

The only Australian player with an active Twitter account, Hughes is also their one batsman yet to make a score of any note. A bit unlucky in the first innings; looked out of his depth on Sunday.

Simon Katich - 6

Began to dig the Aussies out of a hole in the first innings before falling to a poorly judged pull, and could have probably left the one he nicked to gully early doors on Sunday.

Ricky Ponting - 4

From the moment he was controversially given out cheaply on the second day, Ponting's self-control disintegrated. Cut a moody figure, dropped an easy catch and batted too freely on day four.

Michael Hussey - 6

Batted well on Friday before falling to a brilliant delivery from Flintoff, but looked badly out of nick in the second innings - even though it was a bad decision that ended his involvement.

Michael Clarke - 9

A tremendous century on Sunday gave thousands of English cricket fans a sleepless night and he batted on for another hour on the last day before falling to Swann as he tried to step on the gas.

Marcus North - 3

Played a dangerous shot born of desperation attempting to get off the mark in his first innings - and paid the price - and was an easy victim for Graeme Swann second time around. Poor show.

Brad Haddin - 8

Tremendous innings when all before him bar Clarke had crumbled on Sunday, and also batted better than most on Australia's freaky Friday. A shame about the 31 byes he conceded.

Mitchell Johnson - 5

Hit for 200 runs, Johnson's radar was wonky. Somwhere along the line he took three wickets but that's not what people will remember from this display. Nice knock in a losing cause on day five.

Nathan Hauritz - 7

A dislocated finger curtailed his bowling in England's first innings, but he bowled brilliantly after lunch on day three to remove Cook and Strauss. Produced a brave innings on Saturday morning.

Peter Siddle - 7

Has adopted the Merv Hughes mantle as Australia's enforcer, but is yet to pick up a significant haul of wickets. Batted really well at number 10 on the third morning, but could yet find himself dropped.

Ben Hilfenhaus - 7

Easily Australia's best bowler at the moment, and was rewarded with four wickets in the first innings. Signs, however, that he lost just a little enthusiasm and direction late on the third day.

Explaining how he was unimpressed by Australians, past or present, trying to intimidate England's players through words alone, Bopara said: "Whether the words are from Shane Warne or whoever, how are they supposed to hurt me?

"Is he trying to intimidate or put pressure on me? Pressure? Pressure is when you've got a knife in your face and someone says, 'Give me what you've got'."

He went on to explain how exactly that had happened to him when he was 12 years old, growing up in the mean streets of east London.

That kind of anecdote might explain why he often wears a carefree expression as he marches out to bat, whatever the situation, and why he betrays so little emotion in general on a cricket field.

It is clear that he is blessed with enviable talents, and had been in terrific form all year - in all formats of the game - until this series. But he has now hit a small crisis, with scores of 35, 1, 18 and a particularly scratchy 27 behind him.

It might only be a temporary blip, and I think he is certain to keep his place in the side when England head to Edgbaston despite Ian Bell hitting a century for Warwickshire on Thursday. But if Australia were to find a way of winning the third Test, with Bopara struggling again, then the difficult number three spot might have to be re-assessed.

Part of the attraction of selecting Bopara in this England side is the knowledge that he does not come to the crease riddled with nerves or the fear of failure.

But some commentators have accused him of being a bit too casual at times - and he certainly fell to a loose stroke on Friday when he popped up a catch to short-leg off Australia's admirable, though injured, spinner Nathan Hauritz.

It was, frankly, a painful innings to watch. He was dropped on nine, and was inches away from giving mid-on a catch on 19. It must have been infuriating for him to occasionally see a number of his cuts and drives middled, but hit straight to fielders.

Nevertheless, his entire innings contained just 13 scoring shots from 93 deliveries - at a time when he and Kevin Pietersen should have been batting Australia out of the game.

Bopara is the role-model for the next generation - a boy who scrambled 10 team-mates together from his inner London state school to enter a Capital Kids competition run by the Lord's Taverners, which they won.

The England and Wales Cricket Board must be thrilled at his achievement in reaching the highest level at a time when they are stressing their various pledges to funnel cash into exactly the sort of scheme Bopara profited from.

He is one of the first to do so, and it is indicative of the strides that must still be made as the other three members of England's top four went to private school.

For what it's worth, my money's on Bopara's current malaise being a temporary problem. But it would be great if he got past 50 at least in his first innings in Birmingham.

How glorious it is to report, then, that the boot was most certainly on the other foot on Friday at Lord's - when the final session was played under slate-grey skies that are usually a recipe for depression on an English summer's day.

When Australia slumped to 10-2 England's score looked a really good one, but then it looked pretty average once again when Simon Katich and Michael Hussey were together in a largely untroubled partnership that began before lunch and was only ended after tea.

Crucially though, captain Andrew Strauss had maximised the resources afforded to him by a five-man bowling attack - a rare luxury in modern Test cricket despite the abundance of flat wickets - because Andrew Flintoff was well rested when the final session began.

He absolutely motored in, almost hurling his body at the batsmen as well as the ball, and though it was Graham Onions' wicket that started the Australian rot, there was a new-found edge to the cricket that could only be explained by Flintoff's bowling.

The best and possibly fastest delivery of the day, bowled by Flintoff at a formidable 95.1mph, ended Michael Hussey's innings on 51, and the floodgates were open for James Anderson and Stuart Broad - the fittest pacemen in the side - to ride roughshod over the lower order, which they did in devastating fashion.

One rather important footnote remains. It was not just brilliant bowling that accounted for Australia's demise. Of the eight batsmen dismissed, shockingly five went playing some kind of hook or pull shot that did not come off.

This was a massive jolt to the system for those of us who have watched dozens of Australian batsmen play that shot with supreme skill over the years.

The last Ashes Test I had seen in the flesh, at Brisbane in 2006 in admittedly very different conditions, had featured some sublime Aussie pulling. But at Lord's on Friday the Australians pulled enthusiastically but with spectacularly poor reward - like boarding-school teenagers let loose in the West End for a night.

Some of their difficulties could perhaps be explained by the poor, floodlit-assisted conditions late in the day, and some by intelligent bowling from England - whose bowlers did not overdo the short ball, and in between offered few easy scoring opportunities.

More mundanely, the Australians felt pressure. Eschewing the tactic of self-denial that had proved so effective in Cardiff, they were lulled into the big shots, and a tiny percentage of doubt proved critical.

The Test is far from won, however. Against Sri Lanka in 2006, India in 2007 and South Africa last year England have reached tremendous positions in Lord's Tests only to have to settle for draws.

Dropped catches cost them three years ago, before the rain saved the Indians and a wicket that suddenly went flat scuppered them against Graeme Smith's men. England are in a good position, but much hard work remains if they are to secure their first win over Australia at Lord's since 1934.

Follow my updates on twitter through the Lord's and Edgbaston Tests.

Meanwhile here at Lord's, the home side produced the type of dominant batting display we were accustomed to seeing from 80s stars Botham, Gower and Broad all those years ago when England won back-to-back Ashes series.

The only snag was that it only lasted for half a day, and from a tremendous high of 196-0, they lost their way in ungainly fashion and ended up with 364-6 - the kind of score which may yet prove a good one or may simply be not enough.

You pay a lot of money to watch Test cricket at HQ these days, especially when Australia are the opponents, but nobody could complain that they didn't get plenty of bang for their bucks on Thursday.

There was, of course, Andrew Strauss's sumptuous unbeaten 161, some fine reverse-swing late in the day from Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus, and even a brief appearance by the man playing his last Test at Lord's and dominating the build-up to the match, Andrew Flintoff.

I still feel that Australia may have ended up clearly on top had Stuart Clark, the man rated the fourth best bowler in the Test rankings and the leading wicket-taker in the 2006-07 Ashes, been selected for this match. How could he have got into Australia's four-man bowling attack? Possibly by ousting Nathan Hauritz, well though the off-spinner bowled on the final day in Cardiff.

But that is all fanciful conjecture. No reflection of the opening day of the second Test can avoid substantial mention of the man who hit an imperious unbeaten 161, the skipper Strauss.

When Strauss was feeling his way back into the England team after being dropped for the tour to Sri Lanka in late 2007, he struggled in the early stages of his comeback series, in New Zealand in early 2008.

But, having abandoned much of the riskier elements of his repertoire he saved his career with an emotional century in the final Test in Napier and now stands on 18 Test hundreds, only four behind the long-standing English record shared by Wally Hammond, Geoffrey Boycott and Sir Colin Cowdrey.

He has 5,000 Test runs in barely five years of Tests, but dismissed the mark afterwards with a memorable soundbite: "When you look at Ricky Ponting who's reached 11,000 runs, 5,000 seems like you're just out of nappies really."

Strauss did, however, add: "In the last six months I feel I have been batting better than at any time in my career."

The best aspect of his innings on Thursday was the level of concentration late in the day when wickets were falling. He looked even harder to dislodge than at any previous stage and both his shot selection and placement were impeccable.

No active player knows this ground better than Strauss, who has played all his county cricket for Middlesex and scored a century on Test debut here in 2004 against New Zealand. He has never had a Test double-century; wouldn't this be a fine time to register his first?

Interestingly, Strauss felt the pitch would provide England with "more wicket-taking opportunities than at at Cardiff", noting "a bit of nip and a bit of swing." No pressure there then, Freddie, Jimmy, Broady and co.

This Test is beautifully set up right now.

Pictures of Freddie the happy match-winner had been splashed liberally across the tabloids during that glorious summer; but in 2006-7 the look of pure anguish he wore as his team spiralled to a horrible defeat in Adelaide provided one of the most haunting images of the series.

That he starts this current campaign somewhere approaching full fitness is a massive stroke of luck given the amount of cricket Flintoff has lost to injury.

Even once that problem was finally fixed in October 2007 - though one says those words touching every bit of wood in the vicinity - he strained his left side in May 2008, missing a big chunk of last summer, and was further indisposed for much of the Caribbean tour at the start of the year with a hip problem.

Then he broke down with ligament trouble in his right knee at the Indian Premier League in April - though there was an obvious silver lining. By missing the first tranche of England's international summer he gave himself every chance to get himself fit by the time Australia came along.

The returns have been promising since his return with Lancashire on 11 June. He picked up 4-47 in an innings against Durham and in the next Championship game, against Hampshire, hit 54 batting at three. A spectacular 93 off 41 balls at Derby followed in a Twenty20 match.

All looked well until he missed the bus on the morning of a bonding trip to Ypres after a team dinner the night before.

That untimely incident, which raised questions as to whether he had been drinking, caused some amusement among Australian writers, who have witnessed at close-quarters the gradual demise of Andrew Symonds - a thirstier individual than Flintoff with even less enthusiasm for discipline.

We have to hope Andrew Strauss was not just glossing over Ypres-gate when he said of Flintoff: "He generally recognises when the time is to drink and when not to drink. As he's got older he's got more aware of that."

Leaving alcohol and time-keeping to one side, will we again see match-winning performances from Flintoff in this series?

We all want to know exactly how fit Flintoff is for this campaign. Twenty-five days of high intensity cricket is an awful lot for any 31-year-old fast bowler to cram into barely seven weeks - let alone one who is required to bat in the top six and who has faced the surgeon's knife so frequently.

I thought I was onto a good thing when Dave "Rooster" Roberts, the physio who has brought him through so many arduous rehabilitation programmes, agreed to an interview.

But I was asked to clear it with the England and Wales Cricket Board, and a spokesman sternly responded: "Our policy is not to make ECB medical staff available for interview on medical and injury matters." (Roberts is not on ECB staff, but never mind).

So I called Alec Stewart, who will be summarising for Radio 5 Live throughout the series, and asked him what we should expect from Freddie this Ashes.

Stewart said: "He has never been a prolific wicket-taker or run-scorer in Test matches. [For the record, Flintoff has five centuries and two five-wicket hauls in 75 Tests]. But what he has achieved is big moments that help turn games.

"The English public is hoping and praying that he stays fit because he brings so much to the team. Opposition teams see him as such a threat and the Australians do fear him, even though he hasn't quite reached the heights of 2005 since.

"In terms of his fitness, very rarely have I played with a bowler who starts a game 100% fit. What you want is people who can get through games. Freddie is exceptionally fit, but you do still think about what that ankle's going through."

Flintoff himself says he is not going to get worked up: "The fact that it's the Ashes and that people are expecting me to do things again is not something I take a lot of notice of. I go out there and give it my best shot and hopefully at The Oval, at the end of the fifth Test, we're stood on the top of the podium again."

Frankly, though he remains quite brilliant with the ball in one-day cricket, Flintoff's returns in the Test arena appear to be dipping - as Stewart alludes to.

He has played 22 Tests for England since they last won the Ashes, in which time his significant moments are contained in two four-wicket hauls in the Multan Test England should have won, the two half-centuries in Mumbai when they did, and the wonderful bowling spell against South Africa last summer at Edgbaston (when England lost).

"I keep reading that England do better without me," he said recently. Time to put that right, Fred. We'd all love it if you did.

As four Test matches in succession reached climaxes of searing tension, somewhere - whether on the dressing room balcony or in his customary fielding position at mid-off - Vaughan remained calm, methodically plotting England's sole Test series success against Australia in their last 11 attempts.

And yet Vaughan was much more than the magician who turned Andrew Flintoff into a national hero that summer, the senior role model brave enough to let the then rookie Kevin Pietersen bat with unbridled exuberance, and the mentor who encouraged Simon Jones to produce swinging exocets that defied the laws of physics.

At the time, Vaughan was 25 - though with captains past and present in Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart in the side he seemed a mere juvenile. But by batting calmly for two hours on a green wicket with Allan Donald at his most ferocious, Vaughan bounced positive vibes back to the pavilion - even as England were routed for 122.

Three years later, he was in the middle of a year of stunning productivity as 1,481 runs flowed from his bat - many of them eased through the gap between off-stump and extra-cover in a manner which made people swoon with pleasure, and opposition captains cuss in frustration.

Importantly, England were now winning a good number of Test series - only India and, of course, Australia remained unslain beasts - but when Nasser Hussain gave up the captaincy in 2003, Vaughan had become the obvious, and willing choice as his successor.

Fletcher remained in place and together with Vaughan established a dual leadership which allowed the talented, and mostly young, players under their watch to reach the limits of their potential.

Though Vaughan was no longer scoring centuries with machine-like regularity, it mattered not as England beat West Indies 3-0 on their own soil, and followed up with seven back-to-back Test wins on home soil against New Zealand and West Indies before, the following winter, recording a memorable 2-1 win in South Africa.

The homesickness that would later plague Steve Harmison was not in evidence, and the depression that Marcus Trescothick would later suffer had not risen to the surface.

Meanwhile, behind the headline acts there were occasional star-turns from Vaughan's shaggy-haired Yorkshire team-mate Matthew Hoggard and the oft-maligned spinner Ashley Giles - whose close relationship with Vaughan on tour led to Hussain labelling them "the lovers" in a newspaper column.

Vaughan often spoke in news conferences about the importance of "letting the players express themselves" and it was frequently dismissed as a lame soundbite. But in reality it was an important, central plank of his regime. He knew that if a batsman was riddled with the fear of failure he would not move his feet properly and probably edge to the slips. He knew that if a bowler was scared stiff about bowling wides or no-balls he would lose the ability to swing the ball.

And while Vaughan put the players at ease, smiled for the cameras and lifted the trophies, Fletcher was happy to sit out of the spotlight, hard at work at the 21st century coalface of the laptop screen. He did the science, Vaughan did the art in a perfectly symbiotic relationship - something the hastily constructed and rapidly aborted liaison involving Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen which followed could never replicate.

By now we were wondering just how good a captain Vaughan was. In most people's estimations, he had surpassed the cussed determination of Ray Illingworth, and favourable comparisons between Vaughan and Mike Brearley, the architect of the famous 1981 Ashes success, were being drawn.

But then it all started to go wrong. The post-2005 period was always a potentially dangerous time for England, though few could have predicted the speed of the demise. Vaughan's increasingly regular knee problems led England into a variety of makeshift captaincy appointments and the momentum evaporated.

With Vaughan mostly absent, Fletcher suddenly became isolated and defenceless, and eventually had to go himself. When Vaughan did play, his poor form was picked apart - and the man himself protested too much, frequently claiming a big score "was around the corner" when nothing of the sort emerged.

By the time he did resign the captaincy, towards the end of a series defeat by South Africa on home soil, the slightly tetchy relationship he had developed with the media was forgotten as Vaughan sobbed his way through a news conference in Loughborough.

No longer a one-day player, and with Twenty20 having largely passed him by, Vaughan retained hopes of getting back into the Test side, but it was never to be - and his final Test innings remains his 17 against South Africa last August at Edgbaston.

Having hit four effortless boundaries, he failed to get on top of a cover-drive off Andre Nel and picked out short extra-cover.

It summed up the frustrations of the latter part of Vaughan's career - at a time when he gave his wicket away far too often, including when playing for Yorkshire. It is right now for Ravi Bopara to be given freedom to continue his England career at number three unthreatened by the ex-captain, and that a young Yorkshire batsman gets an extended run at Headingley.

Vaughan seems likely to take a high-profile role in the media, though he will be astute enough to have fingers in other pies, and can spend more time looking after his burgeoning property empire.

But until we know exactly what the future holds for him, and before we switch focus squarely on this summer's Ashes, it is only fair to laud the most successful captain England have had in the modern era.

The ongoing four-day match at Hove against a near-enough full-strength Sussex side will not answer all the issues that must be addressed ahead of selection for the first Test in Cardiff, but it might show who's hot and who's not.

With Australia declaring on their overnight 349-7 - in which Hauritz hit a rapid, unbeaten 65 which would have done him no harm at all - Ricky Ponting had the opportunity to give five bowlers a decent workout.

But in hot weather on a wicket getting drier by the hour, these were not the best conditions for the four quick bowlers to be operating in, so it was no surprise that Hauritz was asked to bowl his first five overs before lunch - and initially the signs were good.

He had the young right-hander Rory Hamilton-Brown in some trouble, but from the second over onwards things were less promising. Sussex opener Chris Nash, well established at the crease, hit Hauritz with the spin through midwicket for four. Precociously, Hamilton-Brown then skipped down the track to hit him for an easy six in an over costing 16.

Hauritz continued for three overs after lunch but was milked for easy runs and Ponting decided it was time to bring back Brett Lee.

After the 2006-07 Ashes series, Australia had to face the task of replacing Shane Warne and it got a whole lot harder when Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg followed him into international retirement.

Over the past year, the identity of Australia's Ashes tweaker became blurred as Beau Casson, Cameron White, Jason Krejza, and Bryce McGain were all given a go - and then given the boot.

So it was that the selectors returned to Hauritz, who seemed to have been on the fringes of Australia squads for several years without making a breakthrough.

Indeed, so peripheral was his involvement in the 2003 World Cup that when I stepped into a fast-food joint in Port Elizabeth during the tournament and saw a young chap taking away a large stack of boxed pizzas it took me a while to realise who it was.

Now he is no longer Australia's pizza delivery boy, Hauritz needs to nail down his place in the side - but there was little evidence in his initial spell at Hove that he is going to have a major impact in the Test series which starts next month.

Lee is another bowler with something to prove, having lost the role of Australia's spearhead to Mitchell Johnson, who was rested for this game. For the first time in many a campaign, the blond paceman is no longer an automatic Test pick after injury blighted the start of his year.

But running down the hill with the new ball - with the familiar 17-stride run-up, three slips and a gully in place - he delivered a wonderful first over, beating Michael Yardy three times. Then no-balls began cropping up, and he struggled to find the right line to the right-handers.

After lunch, now charging up the hill from the Sea End, he was much better. Luke Wright and Hamilton-Brown tried to dominate, but each man paid dearly for a flurry of boundaries by being dismissed by Lee.

If not 100% match-fit yet, he must be very close to it, bowling his 11th over of the day before three o'clock and still inconveniencing the batsmen with good pace.

By that stage, Peter Siddle, whose fluid, elegant action allows him to bowl long spells with no great apparent effort, was matching Lee's two-wicket haul, while Stuart Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus had each picked up a wicket.

Though everything suggested that it was a day to be bowling spin, it was the pacemen who were keeping Australia in good shape.

Here is my team of the competition, selected from the best players across all competing teams, and - as you will doubtless question why some people are missing - I have added a second XI as well.

2. Chris Gayle (West Indies - captain). Welcomed Australia to England with a destructive 88 at The Oval on day two to leave a very sour taste in Ricky Ponting's mouth, and played a lone hand in the semi-finals against Sri Lanka's terrific bowlers.

3. Kevin Pietersen (England). Number three is the perfect position for Pietersen in Twenty20 cricket, particularly if he starts his innings inside the first six overs. Hit 154 runs in four innings at better than nine runs an over.

4. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan). After some indifferent batting, he struck a brutal 51 to dump the favourites South Africa out of the tournament, and also played the match-winning knock in the final. He also bowled quite beautifully throughout.

5. Yuvraj Singh (India). Did not deserve to be on the losing side when clubbing 67 off just 43 balls at Lord's against West Indies, and gave England a scare on the same ground with a couple of sixes in a chase they could not quite pull off.

6. Dwayne Bravo (West Indies). His blistering innings won the match against India when the chase looked a forlorn one, having taken four wickets in the same game. In this side he is selected as the third seamer.

7. Kamran Akmal (Pakistan). I very nearly went left-field to stick Niall O'Brien in, but while I am not always convinced by Akmal's glovework, it was pretty solid on the whole, and 188 runs in the tournament at a healthy rate cannot be quibbled with.

8. Wayne Parnell (South Africa). This kid is frighteningly good for a 19-year-old and is a big find by his country's selectors. Left-arm seamer who went for less than a run a ball and took 4-13 against West Indies at The Oval.

9. Umar Gul (Pakistan). Symbolised Pakistan's journey through the tournament, bouncing back from horrible returns against England and Sri Lanka to take 5-6 against New Zealand and become the outstanding yorker-at-the-death exponent.

10. Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan). A late developer who was already 30 when making his Pakistan debut, he has lapped up these English pitches, bowling his off-breaks economically throughout and taking a bunch of wickets as well.

11. Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). After the semi-finals, the world's only world-class carrom-ball bowler had 12 wickets at an economy of less than five an over. Was particularly brilliant against Australia, but nobody read him with any ease.

...and here's my 2nd XI: Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers, Younus Khan (capt), Lendl Simmons, Niall O'Brien (wkt), Roelof van der Merwe, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan

What would your team be?

It was a decent enough showing overall from the hosts, despite two poor performances against the Dutch and South Africa - and these are my ratings out of 10 for the players. Feel free to agree or disagree.

Squeezed every last drop out of his players in the wins against Pakistan and India, and seemed to rotate the bowlers intelligently. With the bat, he didn't quite hit the high notes, particularly on the night England went out.

Ravi Bopara 7

Showed that you can hit regular boundaries in Twenty20 while still playing proper shots and scored notable runs in three out of five innings, which is a decent success rate in this format. England relied on him more than they should have.

Luke Wright 6

Batted with success in England's first two matches, but went missing when the quality went up a notch at the Super Eight phase. Preferred as a spare seamer to Collingwood and Bopara, and did not disgrace in that department. Fielded very well.

Kevin Pietersen 8

England's "gun" player wound up with a total of 154 in four innings and at a strike rate of 152 (which means England would have scored more than 180 every innings if everyone else had matched his rate). KP had an impressive tournament.

Owais Shah 5

Hit four sixes in the tournament, but only scored at just over a run a ball overall which suggests he played out too many dot balls (as he indeed did). In short, Shah produced a series of "nearly" innings - which pretty much summed up England's tournament.

Dimitri Mascarenhas 6

Was overlooked for the final match, perhaps on the basis that he had struggled to provide impetus when promoted to number four against India on Sunday. Was also surprisingly underused as a bowler, despite having the best economy rate.

James Foster 7

The glovework was out of the top drawer, particularly for the stumpings of Yuvraj Singh and Dwayne Bravo - ones that many keepers would not have been quick enough to get. Did not disgrace himself with the bat, either.

Graeme Swann 7

The mad decision to leave him out against the Netherlands was shown up as Swann emerged with five, often crucial wickets from the games he did play - and he was tidy too. He really is a key player across all formats now for England.

Stuart Broad 8

England's leading wicket-taker was also one of the most economical, and he gave many of the best batsmen grief with his accurate bouncers. Also scored 22 runs off just 11 balls faced across his three brief innings. He must be promoted up the order.

Adil Rashid 7

Not expected to play such a major role when coming in as a late replacement for Andrew Flintoff, Rashid bowled particularly well against Pakistan and with more luck on his side would have ended up with more wickets to his name. A bit of a find.

Ryan Sidebottom 7

The injury woes that ruined his winter, and the early part of the summer, were forgotten as Sidebottom bowled with heart and plenty of pace. After being overlooked for a couple of games, really rattled India's top order with a memorable spell.

James Anderson 6

While England's bowlers were in the main impressive, Anderson was perhaps not quite at his very best. He remains a key part of this unit, however, and - like others - would have learnt a great deal from this tournament.

Eoin Morgan, Rob Key, Graham Napier

In a policy move that many observers queried, Napier was overlooked for the entire campaign. Morgan and Key were dropped after both failed against the Netherlands and cannot really be rated on that performance alone.

Well, if that's the case, the experience of this opening weekend in what could be a draining tournament for England fans has proved that in Twenty20 cricket the metaphor applies even more accurately.

Yes, maybe it was a little thin in terms of specialist batting. But given that Pakistan's bowling was clearly their weaker suit, and that The Oval had proved something of a batting paradise thus far in the tournament, it was well thought-out.

And though two specialist batsmen had come out of the side in Robert Key and Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen's fearsome record at the south London ground supported the decision to put Dimitri Mascarenhas in the top six.

But the master-stroke was the late move to field both specialist spinners - one taken minutes before the teams exchanged their agreed teamsheets.

Paul Collingwood and Andy Flower had seen the comparative success of the spinners in the Scotland v South Africa match on the same ground earlier in the day - and decided the ball was turning enough to give both Adil Rashid and Graeme Swann a go.

Coyly, Collingwood refused to say which was his first-choice player for this match - but the likelihood is that it was Swann.

England's skipper proudly sat next to man-of-the-match Luke Wright to take questions after the resounding victory in south-east London.

"We batted with a hell of a lot of purpose," he said. "And Wrighty got us off to a great start. After Ravi [Bopara] had got out early on, for him to have the balls to keep going... Sorry I shouldn't have said that..."

I don't think anyone was offended, and actually Collingwood had alighted on the key ingredient which had underlined England's performance.

"Balls" is exactly what it was all about - pig-headed confidence, the over-riding belief that the players would succeed. Bopara, thus far blameless all summer, was the only man who had an off night. Everybody else excelled.

Stuart Broad, who crumbled ingloriously in the final stages against the Netherlands, was one of the stand-outs. And it did not require much of a talking-to from Collingwood to put the young paceman right.

"I went out for a beer with him last night and that was about it. He's a confident lad, I thought he could bounce back."

He bounced back alright, as did England. But before anyone gets too carried away with the host team's prospects for the Super Eights, it must be said that this was a pretty weak Pakistan side when compared to some of the teams to have graced that nation.

They received impressively loud support from around 5,000 Pakistan fans packed into the stands, but rather shrivelled in the limelight - with their hapless fielding proving an unedifying spectacle.

Pakistan should still join England in the Super Eights - something that will suit England who would then take through the points they claimed against Younus Khan's side - but Younus's bizarre post-match press conference suggested they may not be 100% focused on such a task.

He repeatedly dismissed the Twenty20 format as "fun", and described the awkward predicament that faced their biggest hitter Shahid Afridi thus:

"Everybody was expecting him to come in and straight away hit sixes but in the end it's only a fun game. At the moment we are losing, and if we won people would think otherwise."

Asked if Pakistan were missing the quality of absent pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, he replied: "I miss a lot of things, I miss my family."

Here's a tip: don't place a large bet on Pakistan to win this tournament.

But this one, in the ICC World Twenty20 opener, by the Netherlands in their dayglo orange kit, and on a bleak, showery night, knocks spots off all the others.

And doesn't it just seem ever-so-slightly farcical now that England had begun to feel quietly confident about winning back the Ashes later this summer?

Through the sort of general chaos that bad weather lends to cricketing occasions, the opening ceremony - such as it ever would have been - was reduced to two cursory speeches. One was by ICC president David Morgan and the other by the Duke of Kent - neither the sort of celebrity figure the younger fans in the family stands might have wanted to see.

The one person present they might have had something in common with, singer Alesha Dixon, did not perform at all, though she was briefly pictured with some MCC members who bizarrely had St George's flags painted on their cheeks.

By the time the cricket did start, 20 minutes late, England had already lost Kevin Pietersen to injury - another serious blow for Ashes watchers - and Graeme Swann to an overly bold piece of selection.

Swann has been one of England's best bowlers this year - how did he lose his place in the side to Adil Rashid? Though the young leg-spinner was not disgraced by figures of 1-36, Swann - a competitive so-and-so - might have done better.

Actually, while we're at it, was there not a case for one of Dimitri Mascarenhas or Graham Napier starting this match? Even if their bowling was not to be trusted - and I have a feeling they would not have been disgraced in that department - either one may have hit a boundary or two over the closing overs.

Instead, the out-of-form Rob Key - hurriedly shoehorned into the side to replace Pietersen, was there at the end - and he got nowhere near hitting a four from any of the eight balls he faced.

Teams always pledge not to be complacent when facing lesser opposition, but there was no question that the awful disease afflicted England this time.

First, after Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright had set the tone for a score of around 200, the middle order hopelessly drifted through the second half of the innings and had to settle for 163-6.

But they thought that was enough, and waited for the Dutch batsmen to throw their wickets away, blithely assuming their lowly opponents would comply.

Not a bit of it, and gradually the horror dawned on the home side that they had to pick up the match by the scruff of the neck. That was something they were unable to do.

After a poor winter, the quietly efficient coaching of Andy Flower, and intelligent captaincy of Andrew Strauss, had produced two thumping Test defeats of West Indies, and an easy 2-0 win in the one-day series to boot.

But here there was no Strauss at all, Collingwood had a really flat match - with bat, ball and as leader - and Flower simply had no time to repair the sinking ship - because the format of Twenty20 does not allow it.

This was not the worst ever performance by an England side. The Dutch not only deserve credit, they deserve massive plaudits for a terrifically bold batting performance.

But, in the context of setting an example in a global tournament they were hosting for the first time, this still might have to be regarded as the worst day for English cricket.

Once again, the headlines concern Andrew Symonds, only this time the player himself - so often at the centre of controversy - is wholly innocent of any wrongdoing.

And England fans who witnessed his brutal century in the Ashes Test at Melbourne two and a half years ago will breathe just a little bit easier in the knowledge that he will not be tormenting Andrew Strauss's men this summer.

Nor can I question the Aussies picking Marcus North, a centurion on debut in Johannesburg earlier this year and a player whose 98 first-class wickets as an off-spinner must have helped his cause in a team with just one specialist slow bowler.

But the selection of Andrew McDonald, who has hardly provided awe-inspiring performances in his few Test appearances, over Symonds is highly debatable.

Symonds has been a naughty boy on many occasions, but when you pick over everything bad that he has done in his career, there has never been anything particularly outrageous.

What was it, for instance, that was so crucial about a team meeting in August 2008 - when Australia were preparing for a three-match one-day series against Bangladesh of minute importance - that Symonds had to be there?

A wonderfully-talented free spirit, the 33-year-old is no natural leader and decided to go fishing instead.

Cricket Australia - a deeply conservative governing body - saw red. Not only was Symonds ejected from that series, he was also left out of the Test tour of India that followed.

Bangladesh are not a team that Symonds does too much preparing for. When Ricky Ponting's team were famously beaten by the fledgling Test nation in 2005 in Cardiff, Symonds was dropped from the team on the morning of the match for turning up to pre-match practice still suffering from the effects of a drinking session the night before.

In his book Roy: Going for Broke, which appeared the following year, he reminisced: "Ah, it's only Bangladesh. A little bit of fizz won't be a worry."

But the incident had ramifications: The following winter, he was deemed ineligible to win a prestigious Allan Border Medal on account of the indiscretion.

What troubles those of us who find professional sport has become too colourless of late -too obsessed with the science behind winning, rather than the majestic art of its great exponents - is that between indiscretions Symonds can be such a fantastic player, a game changer and a genuine match-winner.

Let's go back to that Melbourne Test again shall we? Australia, for the first time in the series, had come unstuck with the bat and were struggling at 84-5. But Symonds came to the crease and hit a majestic 156, the momentum switched irredeemably, and he had laid the foundation for another crushing win over Andrew Flintoff's beleaguered tourists.

It was no one-off. He has played only 26 Tests but averages in excess of 40 and there was an even bigger century in the ill-tempered January 2008 Test against India.

Almost as unlucky as Symonds is Brad Hodge, who averages 55.88 at this level and cannot get into the squad as a spare batsman. Now 34, he must wonder if he will always be one of Australia's nearly men.

An injury to any of the batsmen in the squad, mind you, might mean the talented Victorian who has played for three counties will get an immediate call-up - as there is limited back-up available within the squad.

Elsewhere, the squad is largely as predicted. Of the six possible seamers the one to miss out was always most likely to be Doug Bollinger, and so it proved.

Nathan Hauritz, the sole spinner, will have a fair old task on his shoulders if Cardiff turns out to be the dustbowl many are predicting - and if dry weather allows some of the other wickets to take turn.

Symonds, of course, could have provided assistance in that department. He has 133 wickets in one-day internationals, but the selectors had other ideas.

"The majority of the time I was batting out there, that wind was hitting me in the eye and there was a lot of water in the eyes as well".

Welcome to Chester-le-Street, Chris, some 270 miles due north of London. If you needed hand warmers to cope in NW8, you might need something stronger to get you through the day in County Durham.

When I asked veteran Windies commentator Tony Cozier to predict how the second Test would pan out, he was unequivocal: "It'll be the same," he said. "Over in three days."

At one point on day one at Lord's, England were 109-4 and in some trouble. But from tea onwards West Indies declined alarmingly, and it all started with six dropped catches in a single session.

"The catching has become abysmal," Cozier went on. "It's been bad for a long time and the problem is they don't have a fielding coach. The fielding drills lack energy.

"On the second morning, the bowlers played for swing. They didn't adjust quickly enough and Graeme Swann took it away from them with the bat. Everyone was saying he didn't like short-pitched bowling, but they were giving him half-volleys.

"They didn't come across him as a batsman in the Caribbean, but it's up to the coach to find out these things."

The West Indies Cricket Board were offered a great deal of money to tour England, and money is important in these days of dwindling sponsorship within sport.

The players themselves, partly due to pressure from their own representative group, are certainly being well looked after - especially those who had to cut short more lucrative Indian Premier League deals.

If one person epitomises the sudden fall from grace it is Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

He began the series ranked number one in the world for Test batsmen, and in 2007 England's bowlers found him harder to shift than the Rock of Sisyphus. But now he looks a care-worn figure, following scores of nought and four at Lord's.

"Chanderpaul would rather have a rest, and he really need one. He looks lethargic," said Cozier.

Windies pace legend Colin Croft told me: "He is a little bit tired, maybe. But he's been saving the West Indies for the past two years. We can't expect him to do it all the time."

Batsmen must apply themselves far better from numbers 1 to 11, he said. "You don't need to be expansive to be productive. You must play to your limitations. They all want to get on with it and get runs, all except Brendan Nash who is more patient and reminds me a lot of Larry Gomes. He knows you can get to 12 with six twos if you want. It doesn't have to be three fours."

Croft also revealed a fascinating conversation he had had with Alvin Kallicharran, the former West Indies captain who was one of their finest, and arguably most elegant batsmen in the 1970s.

Kallicharran had spotted a fundamental flaw in the techniques of the batsmen, who are presenting the blade of the bat at the ball from a crooked angle - rather than playing at the ball in a straight arc from behind.

What of the bowlers? Andrew Richardson, the tall Jamaican quick, is in line for a possible debut with Jerome Taylor looking a shadow of the man who destroyed England at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

"He doesn't have any fat on him," Croft said of Taylor. "People confuse being thin with being fit but that's not the case. Look at big guys in the past like myself and Joel Garner."

I spoke to both Croft and Cozier before Gayle's astonishing outburst disowning both Test cricket and the West Indies captaincy on Wednesday.

Other Windies players not selected for the Tests, Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo, are having an absolute ball in the IPL, and one can understand why Gayle might wish he was still there.

But somebody has to provide a motivating force at Chester-le-Street, and that somebody is surely the captain. Or perhaps not.