England will regain the Ashes. That's my prediction now that the action we have waited so long for is finally under way.

Some of you may have seen me walk out to bat on Sky TV recently accompanied by a caption that said I thought Australia would win the series 3-1.

I have no idea where that came from, but it certainly had nothing to do with me. For a while I have had a feeling that England would come out on top 2-1 and now that the first Test is under way, I am inclined to change that to 3-1 in our favour.

We need to start well, but if we do I believe we can take a grip. I just get the feeling that there is a buzz in the England camp and that our players are on more of a high than Australia.

Something about the tourists just doesn't look right to me. Their batting is pretty secure, but it hasn't helped them losing Brett Lee for the first two Tests and none of their bowlers have experience of an Ashes series.

That may not be a great problem in itself, but I sense an uncertainty in their ranks, which is a contrast to their normal approach to playing England.

Back in 2005 when I was part of an Ashes-winning side, we went into the series genuinely believing we had a great chance.

That was based on 18 months of excellent results in Test cricket, which we knew we could fall back on if things went awry. You know the drills and disciplines which have made you successful and can call them up in the event of a sticky patch.

The England team don't have an impressive record over that length of time behind them and that's why I feel we need to start the series well.

But the side has come together over the course of five or six months and there is was a settled look about it going into yesterday's first skirmishes at Cardiff.

At the vital time I think we have a distinct edge. But much will depend on the key players in both teams, who I believe are Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and 'Freddie' Flintoff for England and Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and Mitchell Johnson for Australia.

I may be speaking as a batsman, but runs count for everything and one side will put pressure on the other by making big scores in the early Tests.

Pietersen is the man most capable of demoralising the Aussie bowlers and I was really encouraged by Flintoff's innings of 93, off 41 balls, in Lancashire's Twenty20 clash with Derbyshire at Derby.

Fred is a batsman who needs to play without any fear and blasting nine fours and six sixes in that match will have done his confidence the world of good. I believe Matt Prior at six and Flintoff at seven can get England big middle-order runs.

Ponting is obviously a danger man for Australia and I have a high regard for Hussey, who has a tendency to turn centuries into double and even triple hundreds. I remember how pleased the England team of 2005 were when he was not selected for that Test series.

Johnson could be a big player with bat, as well as ball. He has raw pace and bowls at 90-plus mph when he gets it right, mainly pushing the ball across the right-hander.

Worryingly for England, the left-armer has also learned to swing the ball back in, which is a recent development from Australia's tour to South Africa and makes him even more dangerous.

His batting is such that I would rate him the best all-rounder in Test cricket over the past five months. He has already scored a hundred and a 90 batting at eight, playing almost in the manner of Adam Gilchrist.

But let's be positive. Andrew Strauss is similar to Michael Vaughan in his thoughts and the way he plays his cricket, so I'm sure he is the right leader. I firmly believe he can get his hands on that little urn at the end of what looks sure to be a thrilling series.

I can't finish this week without a mention of Somerset's amazing feat in scoring 476 to beat Yorkshire on the final day of the County Championship match at Taunton.

Speaking for myself, I didn't think we had a hope in hell of scoring those runs. When I was batting with Arul Suppiah I kept badgering him and saying 'Look, there are 70 overs still to go and if we don't dig in the team will be batting to save their skins at the end'."

Even when I was first out with the total 187 I thought we had no chance of winning. The turning point came when David Stiff was promoted in the order and smashed a career-best 49 in no time.

Justin Langer and I talked about ways in which we could lengthen our batting by putting in a tail-ender when there was no pressure on and he proved just the man for the job.

Suddenly the required run-rate was achievable and in went 'Hollywood', one of a number of nicknames for Peter Trego, to finish things off in style.

What an amazing innings he played. I can only liken it to one I saw Gilchrist produce at Perth when he scored a hundred off 50-odd balls.

Watching that on TV was a thrilling experience.

Seeing Pete do it in the flesh and help Somerset to an astonishing win in the process was better still.