2-0? England will hit back.

Against all odds, Australia went 2-0 up in Adelaide. The story of the day's play has been told to death, so I won't retell it.

However, I must comment on the post match reaction in the media. It appears that the press in both Australia and England have written off England's chance of retaining the Ashes. This is simply not true. The England team of the 1990's and even Nasser Hussain's men in 2002 would crumble from this position.

Not Andrew Flintoff's men of 2006.

There are strong characters in this team: Flintoff, Collingwood, Pietersen, Hoggard, Strauss, etc and a culture that is not easily diminished.

Though this loss must have been demoralising, England can take plenty of positives from this game (like Lord's 2005) - Paul Collingwood's supreme double century, Kevin Pietersen's outrageous 158, Matthew Hoggard's persevering 7/106 from 42 overs and Andrew Flintoff's bowling in the fourth innings.

The first thing England must do to fight back, is to drop Ashley Giles. The Australians, rightly, don't rate his bowling and he poses little threat. Monty Panesar, meanwhile, has the ability to embarass our batsmen but can't do it if he's not selected.

I expect England to fight back and retain the Ashes, with Flintoff, Pietersen, Panesar, Collingwood, Hoggard and Strauss the main contributors.