With the Ashes only three months away, an Australian -- especially if he is a former captain and probably the most competitive of them all -- cannot escape queries about the series. And Greg Chappell, on April 1, articulated what much of the non-English cricket community has believed for a while.
"England is a good team. But, right now, I think their ambition outweighs their talent," said Chappell. "Australia will still start as favourites in my book."
Chappell, in Mumbai to introduce an Australian-based coaching programme, wasn't too impressed with England's recent performance.
"What they have done is beat a South African side that is currently struggling with the West Indies, who have struggled with most countries in the last five years.
"They have definitely made some progress. They have a good bowler in Steve Harmison, but he's had some injury troubles recently. [Michael] Vaughan and [Marcus] Trescothick are good and we know Flintoff is a good cricketer. Their batting though is suspect and they'll need a lot more to rattle the Aussies."
Once the English were clinically cut down to size, the focus of attention shifted to the ongoing One Day International series between India and Pakistan.
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had consulted Chappell to correct the technical flaws that may have crept into his batting during India's Down Under tour in 2003-04.
Ganguly nearly defined the course of the series with a valiant 144 in the rain-affected first Test in Brisbane.
The Indian skipper is once again going through a lean patch, and Chappell believes it is nothing more than that.
"It's wrong of me to sit here and talk about Sourav's batting since I haven't spoken to him for a long time nor watched enough of this series. These bad phases come in every cricketer's career and I know Sourav is intelligent enough to overcome it. It's basically a mental problem for him."
Chappell was upset at suggestions that Sachin Tendulkar was also on a slump.
"I think you guys demand too much of your champions. You cannot expect a player to perform the same throughout his career. Sachin has played like a champion and maintained his form for 15 years. How many cricketers can do that? He won you the first One Day International [in Kochi] just two days ago with the ball. What more can you ask from the man?"
The former Australian captain, who had once asked his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to win a match, said cricket was a game where the "bowlers and the captain try to create problems and batsmen have to find solutions to these problems.
"Most of the time it is the batsmen who get themselves out. It is like delaying the inevitable."
Chappell, now a veteran coach, believes in letting players find their own style. He thinks coaches who interfere in a student's style make him mentally weaker by making him conscious of his responses, instead of letting him play instinctively.
"You cannot think about the movements when you are batting. It should happen subconsciously. When people say don't do it like this, the message that goes across to the youngster is 'you are no good'. What I tell students is watch the ball and allow the subconscious to organise the rest."
Chappell also said there was no right way to bat or bowl, and cricketers had to find their style by themselves. Besides, different people take care of different expressions of the game.
"I couldn't have batted like Adam Gilchrist. He holds the bat so high that the handle disappears into his top hand. But he can bat that way because he has such immense power.
"People say Rahul Dravid is technically more correct than Virender Sehwag. I disagree. They both have the right techniques because it suits their personalities. Sehwag couldn't bat like Dravid if his life depended on it and vice versa."
