"Winning is contagious. If you know how to win you find a way but if you haven't won for some time it becomes more difficult". So says Rodney William Marsh, former Aussie legend turned potential England saviour.

It is a frank and simplistic assessment of the most basic of sporting theories – success breeds confidence – but when delivered by one of the game's foremost coaches it carries an extra resonance befitting the bear-like presence he still carries.

Not many players got the better of Marsh on the pitch – he still holds the all-time record for Ashes dismissals (148) - but it's his unique insight to both camps that truly marks him out as a man worth listening to. Only two other players have more experience of life on the Ashes front line but Marsh also has the enviable record of having coached both countries' National Cricket Academies.

The former world record holder for Test wicketkeeping dismissals was once considered the archetypal tough Aussie; If you cut him he'd bleed Australian gold and green, if you sledged him he'd roar back with fair dinkum ferocity and if you questioned his worth he'd just say "look in the book mate".

And yet here we are in 2002 with England once more facing up to the all-conquering Aussies, only this time he's on OUR side. That's not to say he's gone soft in his old age and taken pity on the Mother Country, just that he fancied a new challenge after helping rejuvenate the Baggy Greens following their mid-1980s collapse.

His dream now is to see England regain the Ashes thanks in part to the efforts of his new charges at the NCA – players such as Simon Jones and Stephen Harmison - but he knows it will take an almighty effort, especially given the Ashes' special history.

Sometimes we struggle to fully comprehend the battle's significance, but not Marsh... he was brought up on it.

"I guess it's always been a case of the new boys on the block trying to beat the people that brought them the game," he explains. "The fact the game was invented in England, the Australians were colonised by England and they brought the game here (Australia)... that's where it stems from."

There's certainly no doubt the traditional Ashes rivalry still gets the old blood pumping, but in a changing world order flexibility is the key to survival.

"It probably meant more to us in my playing days because you always thought about beating England as the pinnacle of your career. If you could play in an Ashes winning side that was fantastic, but I think that feeling probably left Australians a little bit when the West Indies became so dominant.

"Now the Australians have been so dominant for such a long period of time I guess everyone's trying to knock them off their pedestal, so it's not just the English that will be thinking that way but also every other team."

But while Marsh agreed the present Australian team was "a heck of a good side" he said England's best chance of winning was to concentrate on their own game rather than let visions of Warne, McGrath and Hayden dominate their thinking.

"If I were them, and I've said it before, I wouldn't be thinking about winning. What I would be thinking about was just playing the very best cricket that you can possibly play because I know one thing for certain, if you don't play good cricket they won't win, and that's not rocket science.

"They've just got to go out and play their best cricket and if that's good enough fantastic, and if it's not there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it. You're just beaten by a better side if that's the case, but if you're not playing your best cricket you've got to look at yourself and say there's room for improvement."

It is a simple philosophy but even the most basic of theories is open to freakish demolition, or Ian Botham as it used to be called. They say time is a healer but it appears the wound's still sore as Marsh reflected on his own Ashes nadir.

"Obviously getting beaten in 1981 was a really low moment because we were in a position to win that series," he recalled. "We won the 1st Test, which was a bit of a raffle because the pitch did quite a lot, but we just won that one and were in a terrific position to win at both Headingley and Birmingham."

The Botham inspired comebacks soon put the kibosh on that and before you could blink Old Trafford had gone as well, turning round a 0-1 deficit into a 3-1 victory that left the Aussies punch drunk and bemused at their change in circumstances.

But having played in 42 Ashes encounters Marsh can balance out the lows with rather fonder memories stretching back to the early 1970s.

"My first tour of England in 1972 was terrific. We felt we performed really well as the worst team ever to leave Australia," reflected Marsh on the 2-2 drawn series. "And then again in 1982/3 when we played well in Australia.

"You take them as they come and at the end when you look back you wonder why you were so anxious about winning because it doesn't seem all that important now. But, when you're playing it is very, very important. It's basically your life when you're playing. You try and win every game and I guess against the old rival there was more pressure on you to perform."

Now it's time for the next generation to stand up and be counted and while Marsh shies clear of commenting directly on England's Test selection he is confident his previous charges – Jones and Harmison – have the required talent and bottle to flourish on the international stage.

"Having been involved with those young fellows last winter I am delighted that they're in that team and I wish them well because they're both really nice young men and if they bowl to the best of their ability I'm sure they will do well, so it's up to them."

And if he can help in any way Marsh, a former schoolteacher, will be only too glad assist from the Adelaide based academy. "Oh yeah, our responsibility will be to assist the team as much as we possibly can. If they need players to come to us for rehabilitation or for any training obviously we'll be available and delighted to take whoever they want."

It may not cut much ice with the natives but with Marsh on board the Good Ship England it just might be that our Ashes fortunes are about to turn around.

Photo: Colin Spiro

24 Oct, 2002