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Whatever you do, do not believe a word of it, they will both say it is of no consequence to what is coming but we reckon that’s a crock.
Like two old wise yet weary gladiators brought face-to-face once again, this Saturday will see Australia face up to England on its own turf in what will be a precursor to the Ashes that starts on July 10th at Trent Bridge.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that both sides will want to get off to a winning start.
Many an England supporter will recall down to the smallest detail how England’s beating of Australia in the 2004 Champions Trophy was the turning point for their 2005 Ashes victory.
Suddenly the whole of England believed, they believed that those Antipodean cricketing freaks from Down Under could be beaten.
A generation of fans in England grew up knowing nothing more than defeat at the hands of those baggy green wearing warriors and many an English Test star stared at an incoming McGrath holding in his hands the ball of defeat.
Hell, he would even tell you the outcome before the Ashes started: 5-0.
Oh, how the Poms laughed after their famous 2005 series victory.
Here goes McGrath stating it will be 5-0 in the follow up, because he has to say that, that is what he does.
And how us Aussies laughed when we kicked those little Pommie backsides back to Blighty with 5-0 firmly stamped all over their famous three lions, on their white shirts.
We’ll give them credit where it is due as they bounced back, then they really bounced back again in our back yard.
They walked up to our BBQ and with their Thames-stained fingers picked up our thick cut Scotch fillet and shoved it down their throats then, stopping to guzzle our finest Barossa red, they left with blood stained teeth and a sneer.
Now they are waiting for us and from what we can read in their red-topped papers, it is with glee.
We could hear the hand clapping and back slapping from here when our Captain, Michael Clarke, was ruled out of the clash with a lower back injury.
Arguably the world’s best batsman at the moment, it was a hammer blow for the Australian team as he averages 44.69 in one-dayers.
But that’s ok right? We aren’t a one-man team.
What about Glen Maxwell? Those Poms know all about him.
Last year he left Australia to ply his trade in England and ended up joining South Wilts CC in the Southern League.
Within a year he had played Twenty20 cricket for Hampshire, where he proved he could smack a ball out of the ground if necessary, then he went on to represent Australia and finally earned himself a $1 million contract in the IPL.
England on the other hand has their own big hitter, Jos Buttler, the 22-year-old who took it to the Black Caps last Wednesday scoring 47 not out from 16 balls.
Ouch!
Warney might complain that he is frustrated by the Australian selectors, telling BBC Radio 5 Live that it appears they don’t know their best team.
“They’ve picked players that have not performed well at first-class level or international level,” Warne said.
Meanwhile, in the England camp all is not well coming into Saturday’s match.
With Broad and Finn out injured England has a three-pronged bowling attack and poor old Jade Dernbach may have played his last one-day match after he was destroyed by Martin Guptill.
Nasser Hussain pointed to this in his column for the Daily Mail and believes that England could be in trouble.
Who knows who is in trouble? We don’t.
What we do know is that Saturday night will see the beginning of a modern day Priscus versus Verus gladiatorial battle.
They could both be evenly matched yet one of them will walk away triumphant.
What do you think?
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