Flintoff and Harmison must hunt for Australia

Following a summer of unprecedented success the headlines were inevitable. "Bring on the Aussies" shouted one Sunday paper, following England's 4-0 Test series whitewash of the West Indies. Well, here they are, ready and waiting to see whether this England side is any better than those they have thrashed over the past 15 years.

Following a summer of unprecedented success the headlines were inevitable. "Bring on the Aussies" shouted one Sunday paper, following England's 4-0 Test series whitewash of the West Indies. Well, here they are, ready and waiting to see whether this England side is any better than those they have thrashed over the past 15 years.

Michael Vaughan's ever-improving team will get some idea of their progress over the last seven months at the conclusion of today's ICC Champions' Trophy semi-final at Edgbaston, but the result will have little effect on what takes place next summer, when these two sides compete for the Ashes.

Australia, as ever, start as favourites. The world champions have not been at their best since arriving in England but they still beat Pakistan - in a warm-up match - and New Zealand, two of the strongest one-day teams.

It is difficult to find weaknesses in Ricky Ponting's side. Age and almost 33,000 international deliveries appear to be catching up with Glenn McGrath; without Shane Warne Australia do not possess a spinner who can dominate the middle of the innings; Brett Lee's inconsistency and Adam Gilchrist's recent form may be areas that England can exploit. But Australia are still an outstanding team, filled with players capable of winning games on their own.

England, guided by the brilliance of Andrew Flintoff, arrive in Birmingham in reasonable touch themselves. But this has not been enough to attract people to the ground. Five thousand tickets will be on sale this morning despite the prospect of Flintoff giving the Birmingham public another day to remember. These days the Lancashire all-rounder looks invincible when he walks out to bat. The power of his strokeplay and his physical stature intimidates opponents before a ball is bowled.

Stephen Harmison, England's other star performer this summer, works in a similar manner and it will be fascinating to watch how hard-nosed Aussies deal with players other nations are struggling to control. After all, Australia have been involved in a fair bit of bullying themselves in the last 10 years. This will be only Flintoff's third match against Australia.

"We spent a little time looking at Flintoff yesterday," Ponting admitted, "but no more than anyone else. He's been a fantastic player for England during the last 12 months in both forms of the game, and particularly his batting in one-day cricket, which of late has been outstanding. But we have one or two things we might try against him."

Neither team will find scoring runs on this pitch easy if Sunday's match between India and Pakistan is anything to go by. The recent poor weather, and the number of games played in the last week, has made it almost impossible for the groundsman to produce a hard, dry pitch.

The surface spent most of yesterday under cover and it is bound to favour the quicker bowlers - once again the toss will be vital. Both teams possess outstanding seam attacks, and it will be the side which exploits the helpful conditions best which goes through to Saturday's final.

"I think our attack is capable of exploiting the conditions better than England's," a bullish Ponting said. "We have four very good bowlers in our squad at the moment, who have all done fantastically well over a long period in all conditions. So if we get a wicket that seams around a bit it will suit us a little more than it does England."

The nature of the pitch, and Ponting's comments, suggest that Australia may play Brett Lee ahead of the all-rounder Shane Watson. Lee, one of the fastest bowlers in the world, has not been at his best recently but England do not need reminding of how devastating he can be.

England should have won their last two encounters against Australia but on each occasion they failed to handle the pressure of a tight finish. In the 2003 World Cup, Andy Bichel and Michael Bevan broke English hearts with a match-winning partnership in Port Elizabeth, and in Melbourne, in the second final of the VB Series, Lee ripped through England's lower order to snatch an unexpected victory.

England are unlikely to make any changes to the side which defeated Sri Lanka at a wet Rose Bowl on Saturday, and Vaughan is hoping Harmison's decision not to tour Zimbabwe does not distract him from hunting down Australian batsmen.

"This is a special game for us," said Vaughan. "We realise the team we are playing against is the best in the world, and have been for a number of years. If we can play as well as we have in the last few weeks we will certainly put Australia under pressure."

England (from): M P Vaughan (capt), M E Trescothick, V S Solanki, A J Strauss, A Flintoff, P D Collingwood, G O Jones (wkt), A F Giles, A G B Wharf, D Gough, S J Harmison.

Australia (from): R T Ponting (capt), M L Hayden, A C Gilchrist (wkt), D R Martyn, A Symonds, D S Lehmann, M J Clarke, S R Watson, M S Kaspowicz, J N Gillespie, G D McGrath, B Lee.