On the Super Series The Super Series matches have little intrinsic importance or relevance other than, perhaps, answering that old sporting cliché that ‘a champion team will always beat a team of champions.’ In other words is team spirit and unity, of the type Australia ought to have in spades, more important than individual talent? Will team spirit prevail over a disparate bunch of individuals brought together for one match?

As it happens I think that Australia do have a good chance of winning, but not necessarily because of that reason. I reckon there is simply more at stake for Australia. The Rest of the World players will have a nice time in Melbourne and Sydney. They'll be well looked after. But nothing that happens - win or lose, good performance or bad - will effect their status or position in their national teams.

For the Australian team the situation is much different. They have been given an absolute hammering since their return from the Ashes. Already there have been scapegoats: Damien Martyn has lost his Test place, Matthew Hayden his one-day place and Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz have disappeared without trace. Others will feel the heat should the Super Series go wrong.

Quite simply then, Australia will be the more motivated team. When you add that to the fact that many of the Rest of the World team are very short of match practice and match fitness then I reckon Australia are value to win both the one-day games and the Test match.

As for individual performances: I wouldn’t touch the England players at any price. They’ve probably still not come down from the high of winning the Ashes yet. They’ve probably not even sobered up yet. The best bets on the Rest of the World side are the players who are likely to be self-motivated and disciplined: Graeme Smith, Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid spring to mind.

As for Australia: Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne remain the only bowlers to trust for Australia. Brett Lee is hit and miss, and his Colgate smile dazzles people to the extent that they forget his Test match figures are fairly ordinary. Ricky Ponting will want to silence his detractors and Adam Gilchrist will want to show the world that he is not Andrew Flintoff’s bunny forever. Australia and their players were over hyped and no value for the Ashes. Now they might be.

Editor’s note: Athers actually wrote this article on Wednesday and his predictions certainly look as good as his Ashes tips! Australia won the 1st game by 93 runs.