Strengthened Australia welcome Stokes' men to Gabbatoir in pivotal Test

England's captain is still bullish but the omens suggest match could be a nightmare on Vulture Street

- Ali Martin Brisbane

My first day at the Gabba was 23 years ago, half a lifetime having passed since I slept on my brother's sofa across the river and followed the Ashes tour as a backpacker. The coin went up, Nasser Hussain decided to have a bowl, and Steve Waugh's Australians cashed in on generosity.

Having not returned until 2017-18, and then covered the Covid tour four years later, the Sydney finale in 2003 is the only time I have seen England win a Test on Australian soil. Even then I missed the last day: flat broke and forced to head back to Queensland to find work, I found myself on a farm upstate, shovelling melons like a scrumhalf for eight hot hours a day while dodging venomous snakes underfoot.

It was three dollars to the pound back then, but the main difference before the tour was expectation. There was precious little, other than of a good time ahead, a chance to watch that great Australia team firsthand, and the hope that one or two Englishmen might stand up in the heat. Michael Vaughan's glowing bat answered that call, at least, peeling off 633 runs in an otherwise one-sided 4-1 defeat.

Australians could be forgiven for wondering why expectations were higher this time around given England's record since. The 3-1 win under Andrew Strauss in 2010-11 remains the one island of bliss in an ocean of otherwise thwarted trips, with two whitewashes and a couple of 4-0 scorelines underlining how hard it can be to swim against the tide.