England's defeatism must be defeated

The Ashes: The missing admission is that the tourists were in awe. Their biggest enemy is an inferiority comple

Despite all the positive talk by England at the start of this Ashes series, Nasser Hussain's team did not give the impression they were a side that truly believed they could beat Australia in Brisbane. Hussain, the England captain, suggested as much at the conclusion of their demoralising defeat when he admitted that he had 11 nervous cricketers out on the field with him on the first morning.

Nerves can be the result of several factors. Fear of the unknown is common – and that might explain Hussain's decision on winning the toss – but more often than not in the sporting world, they are the result of feeling pressure. Whether this is caused by the size of the event, the status of the opponent or the match situation, they are present and it is how they are coped with that is crucial. Shane Warne said as much in a column in an Australian newspaper. "We were a bit anxious at the start too," he said, "but I think it was the anxiety and anticipation of 'we can't wait', while they [England] seemed to have the fear of what was going to happen."

In some instances nerves can be helpful because they can improve performance through adding an edge to a player's game. In the main, however, they appear to be detrimental, especially when they prevent someone from performing to anywhere near their full potential.

This was obviously the case on the first day at the Gabba and in attempting to explain his side's jitters Hussain deliberately overlooked the main reason – the Australians. He had to. Because if the captain were to suggest that his side were in awe of their opponents it would be tantamount to admitting they were beaten before the game. Instead Hussain chose the pre-Test press conference as an opportunity to state his side were going back to basics. By this he meant that England's plan was simply to bowl, bat and field well. If they could manage this they would be competitive. However, they didn't and because of this the regard in which they hold the Australians grew.

And overcoming this inferiority complex is the biggest challenge facing Hussain and the England coach Duncan Fletcher in Australia, because no amount of time practising in the nets will make up for the fact that you do not fancy your chances of success when you run up to bowl or stand there with a bat in your hand.

It is possible, through repetitive practice, to train your body so that your technique will not fall apart under pressure, but this will only work if the mind does not take over control of the body. At times like this it is necessary to try to empty your head and trust that your body will react in the correct manner.

The chances of this being achieved before Adelaide on Thursday are slender because England cannot just press a button which will rid several of Hussain's side of the memory of previous Ashes hidings. In Australia they refer to it as mental scarring. And by stating this they are reminding people of the mental affect that losing seven Ashes series in a row has had.

At the end of the First Test it was suggested that England use a sports psychologist to help them overcome their anxiety. Duncan Fletcher said that his side had employed one in the past and would consider using one again if they felt it was necessary.

To use one now, at such short notice, would be a waste of time. A psychologist would need quite a bit of time to get demons of this size out of their heads. A couple of sessions would be like combing your hair when you have a dodgy heart.

During my time with England we used Dr Steve Bull as our psychologist. I enjoyed and benefited from working with him even though my one-to-one sessions only confirmed to me that my attitude and thought processes were right. However, as a team we failed to make proper use of him. In my view we were never honest enough to address the core problems that we had as a side. Our sessions created the ideal environment for players to be open about their own frustrations as well as the team's shortcomings.

Sadly, the attitude appeared to be one where the majority of players only wanted to hear the things they wanted to hear. This caused the sessions to be nothing more than ego massage. On a couple of occasions before the 1999 World Cup, however, we were getting close to addressing such problems. Graeme Hick and Adam Hollioake started the ball rolling by opening up about their frustrations of being involved with England.

With players giving such views it was only natural there was some criticism of the way certain matters, such as selection, were handled. This was good. The selfish and moaning attitude of certain players was brought up too. Unfortunately, all of this did not go down too well with the management or some of the more sensitive squad members and our sessions once again became superficial.

But with no time to sort out the mental approach of the team over the next four days England's chances of getting back into this Test series will lie in the hands of their experienced players. It is asking a lot of a youngster to lead the team out of this rut and Hussain will be looking to the likes of himself, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher or Andrew Caddick to produce something special, an innings or a spell that could change the course of a game.

Australia believe that the key to England's batting is the top three. If they fire, so do England, as was shown in their first innings at Brisbane. However, it did not become a match-saving score because Trescothick, Vaughan, Butcher and Hussain all failed to rival the feats of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting.

With England's top six looking after itself, the attention of the selectors before Thursday will centre on the all-rounders and the bowling. With Andrew Flintoff still struggling with injury and Craig White not appearing to possess too much menace with either bat or ball, England may be tempted to pick seven batsmen. Apart from John Crawley, who has played well in Hobart, Robert Key has looked the next best batsman on show. And with Flintoff unlikely to feature the selectors could well be tempted to take the option of playing a specialist instead of White.

After a bowling display as disappointing as any I have seen from an England side in Hobart on Friday, not one of Flintoff, White, Alex Tudor or Stephen Harmison has strengthened his case. Matthew Hoggard would have been under pressure for his place if two of these four had performed but he now deserves another opportunity.

Of the rest, Tudor has the best chance of breaking into the Test side because if England were to go in with only four bowlers they would would want to play the player they thought was the most consistent.

Angus Fraser's possible 12: N Hussain (captain), M Trescothick, M Vaughan, M Butcher, J Crawley, R Key, A Stewart, C White, A Tudor, A Giles, A Caddick, M Hoggard.