England to win 3-1

FORMER England captain Chris Cowdrey has predicted a 3-1 win for England in the Ashes. The series opens in Brisbane late tomorrow night our time and although England have not been at their best recently in addition to the combined absence of Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and now Marcus Trescothick, Cowdrey, who was on a flying visit to the island as the guest speaker at yesterday's Babbe Le Pelley Tostevin November Lecture Lunch, is still optimistic that the team can do a job on the Australians.

'It's one of those series.

'We could lose 5-0 but I think we'll win 3-1.

'That's wild my prediction,' said the 49-year-old.

'But you know we never start tours well. I don't think they mind too much what happens in these warm-up games.

'They practise so hard in training, so I think we'll do all right. It wouldn't surprise me if we win.'

He believes that England will play Monty Panesar as the selectors debate as to whether the new spin sensation should be dropped in favour for the tried and tested, Ashley Giles, who has returned after a long-term hip injury.

'What you've got is a world class spinner in Monty who can't bat or field up against Mr Reliable who catches everything at gully, can bat and is a good defensive bowler,' he said.

'I think they will go with Panesar but I think they'll play both of them in Sydney and Perth.

'Maybe they could both play in four of the Tests but that will weaken our seam bowling department.'

Throughout his career, Cowdrey suffered from comparisons with his father, England legend Colin.

But he was a respectable player in his own right, scoring 12,252 runs in 299 first-class matches.

He led Kent throughout the majority of the 80s and has six Test caps to his name.

His one as England's captain came against West Indies in 1988, but a foot injury sustained in a county game after the match saw him miss the next Test and ultimately he was never reselected.

In the Ashes, he believes a lot rests on England's captain, all rounder and talisman Freddie Flintoff.

'If Flintoff is fit for all five Tests, we've got a big player,' he said.

'They don't like batting against him and they are nervous about him slogging everyone out of the park.'

Flintoff also features in a new children's book that Cowdrey has written, 'Freddie meets Freddie'. It is the story of how a cricket ball called Freddie gets to meet England's hero, when it is used in a Test match at Lord's.

'When I was eight years old, I got my first cricket ball, branded with 75,' said Cowdrey.

'I looked after it and shined it all the time until some bigger kid smashed it into the trees and I couldn't get it. I wondered what sort of adventures it would have and always thought I'd write a book about the ball.'

The book is also helping Chance to Shine which aims to bring cricket to state schools. Cowdrey is an ambassador for the initiative.

'£50m. is needed to get the kids out of the state schools and onto the cricket field,' he said.

'It's a massive problem: there aren't enough fields and decent facilities and we need to pick the kids up and get them into local cricket clubs. If we beat Australia we're going to be the number one team in the world and here we are, we've got kids in state schools not playing cricket.'