Ashes? We can't even beat the Dutch!

In 32 days time Paul Collingwood and his band of merry men are going to walk out in front of a bumper crowd in Cardiff, with the Barmy Army hoping that England can make a decent start to their attempt at regaining the Ashes, when they take on Ricky Ponting's Australia in the first test.

However, with just over a month to go to the much anticipated test series, against the world number one test side and our bitter enemies, England have gone and slumped to a rather embarrassing defeat to cricketing minnows The Netherlands, in the opening game of the World Twenty20 tournament, that's being hosted in England, adding insurmountable pressure on Collingwood and the rest of the team, ahead of the Ashes series, which in 2005 brought the whole country together as we won the 'little urn' for the first time since 1987.

Prior to the start of the Twenty20 tournament, England had notched up an encouraging win over the West Indies in their second of two warm up matches, but in the warm up match that preceded it, the England side looked less than convincing against another minor cricketing nation, Scotland, but ahead of the serious stuff, no one would ever have predicted this outcome.

An over throw off the final ball of the final over from Chris Broad allowed the Dutch to get the two runs they needed to clinch the shock win and open up this years World Twenty20 with a bang, however the win was no fluke, in fact, it was more than the Dutch deserved as England were punished for not being more daring and attacking in the final overs of their innings, and performing poorly in the field, where on a number of occasions the fielders had clear chances to take the wickets apart and get some run outs, but missed every single time, including with the final ball.

England now must beat Pakistan on Sunday, in their final group game, to have any chance of reaching the knock out rounds of the tournament but with the Ashes just a month away, the greater concern is whether we can even compete with the Australian's, if we can't even beat the Dutch on our on patch.

Despite being the innovators of the Twenty20 game, England aren't that great at it, and it seems that the shorter the match, the worse we are, so in test match conditions we have as good a chance of any of beating the Aussie's, but when you look at the team that walked out against the men in orange yesterday at Lords, you have to be a little worried, as at least five of the 11 players in the team will be in, or at least in contention for, a starting place come July 8th.

Australia, about six months ago, were looking a little worse for wear, and England had cause for optimism after the Aussie's lost to South Africa in Australia, their first test series defeat on home soil in 16 years, but since then Ponting's men have pushed on and have markedly improved, coming back to beat South Africa in South Africa and have looked close to their best.

The Australian team that walks out with England on that opening day of the test series, is not going to be a familiar one to non cricket followers, as very few of the players that England beat back in 2005 are still playing, but their current crop are young, exciting and seem to be a great blend of youth and experience.

Off the pitch Australia have had some minor disciplinary problems, having to send Andrew Symonds home for breaching alcohol rules yet again, but the Australian's have dealt with that quickly and swiftly and hope to continue their encouraging start to their summer tour of England, with a win in their opening group game of the World Twenty20 this afternoon against the West Indies.

Being beaten by the Netherlands in any form of cricket is going to hurt the England boys for a little while, but they have no other choice but to shake that feeling quickly as tomorrow they have a must win match against Pakistan, where only a win will do to take them into the knockout stages and restore some pride in the England dressing room.

As the Ashes draws closer and closer, the Australians, being the professionals that they are, sure wont be taking England lightly despite this embarrassing defeat, but it will have certainly raised a few eyebrows in the Australian camp, and made one or two have a little laugh to themselves, and will have only of raised the Australian's expectations of retaining the Ashes this summer.