AUSTRALIA, odds-on favourites to retain the Ashes, arrived in England yesterday for a six-Test series which will be unusual in at least one respect - failure for either captain could hasten his departure from the job.
Mark Taylor tacitly acknowledged this when he said of himself and Michael Atherton: ``I've no doubt it would be both our goals still to be captain at the end of the series. That's my aim and I'm sure it would be his. But I'm only thinking one Test ahead at the moment and maybe he is, too.''
Taylor has an enviable success rate as captain of Australia, yet his batting form over the last year has been so poor that many distinguished critics at home have called for his removal.
Atherton's problem is almost exactly the reverse of his rival's. In New Zealand he scored a century and two fifties, and finished top of the batting with an average of well over a hundred. But he has never led England to a series victory over a leading Test opponent.
Taylor was more than happy to talk about his own dilemma when the tourists met the press at their West End hotel a few hours after stepping off the plane. ``I was always confident I would be chosen for this tour but my form has been variable. I've been out of touch for three or four months now, and I found that the harder I was trying the worse I was getting. At times I was close to tearing my hair out. But it only needs one innings to put me back.''
Taylor felt stale after the recent tour of South Africa. ``So I went fishing, relaxed with the family and generally got myself mentally fit. I picked up a bat for the first time two days ago - when I packed it.''
His aim is to make that ``one big innings'' in the month before the first Test at Edgbaston starting on June 5. The Australians, whose opening fixture is against the Duke of Norfolk's XI at Arundel on Thursday, play four one-day games against county sides before the one-day international series (May 22, 24 and 25) and do not have a first-class game until Tuesday, May 27, against Gloucestershire.
That is when Taylor will really be tested, and he could face the prospect of leaving himself out for the Tests. ``As captain and as one of three selectors it would be difficult to leave myself out of the side,'' he said. But, yes, he admitted, it just could happen. ``I have to prove to myself and my fellow selectors that I'm the best opening batsman in the side.''
Australia come with a record of finishes in their last 17 Tests - 10 victories and seven defeats - and Taylor put this down to the side's positive approach. ``But there will be no room for complacency. I'm sure England will have found a new spirit after their success in New Zealand and we have the talent to beat any side in the world.''
If Taylor should prolong his failures with the bat, then the man sitting next to him yesterday would step into the breach. Steve Waugh has taken over from Ian Healy as vice-captain but he acknowledges that he can hardly be thought of any longer as an all-rounder.
Not for the first time, Waugh broke down with groin trouble in South Africa when brought on and he no longer sees himself as a bowler. ``As a batter I'd love to bat against myself,'' he admitted.
Shane Warne, who says that he has now fully recovered from his spinning finger operation a year ago, was told the England players were studying videos of him in action. ``I won't be doing anything other than my normal stuff, he said. ``It's not a question of having more tricks in your locker.''
Ominously, he added: ``I feel that I'm now back to about 90-95 per cent fitness and that I'm on the verge of something special.''