Australia will head into Thursday's first Ashes Test at the Gabba against a side described by respected commentator and former Australian captain Allan Border as an ‘Empire XI'.

The current England squad is led by South African-born Andrew Strauss and coached by Zimbabwe's greatest ever player Andy Flower. Star batsmen Kevin Pietersen, Jonathon Trott and wicket-keeper Matt Prior were all born in South Africa, while Eoin Morgan was brought into the English side after playing 23 one-day internationals for Ireland, including the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

"I don't know whether they should be called England - it should be the Empire XI. They got any Poms in their side?" Border said at a pre-Ashes dinner last week.

"They are all South Africans and Irishmen - let's question where these blokes are actually from."

Off the field there will be just as many foreign ascents in the English dressing rooms, with Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan legspinner, joining fast-bowling coach and Victorian David Saker and former Australian coach John Buchanan working as a mentor with the arch-enemy.

This trend has been going on in English cricket for the past decade, with players from nations all over the world, including Australia, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Denmark, Papua New Guinea, Norfolk and of course South Africa and Ireland rewarded with a blue cap featuring the three lions in the last 10 years.

Then there are the famous examples of Indian-born former skipper Nasser Hussain and Zimbabwian-born Graeme Hick, who stood out of international cricket at the height of his powers for three years, just so he could be eligible to play for England.

Cricket fans worldwide should get used to the prospect of foreigners invading their national sides.

And Australia is no exception either, with famous recent examples being Dirk Nannes, who represented the Netherlands at the World Cup before being selected by Australia and Andrew Symonds, who was born in England. Even Usman Khawaja, who seems a likely future Test player, was born in Pakistan.

In the world of franchise Twenty20 cricket, where players such as Kieron Pollard, Brad Hodge, David Warner, and Shahid Afridi can all make a handsome living without playing Test cricket, who's to say that these cricketing nomads wouldn't jump at the opportunity to represent another nation, if just for a one-off appearance.

The foreign coaches make absolute sense and any team should try to recruit the best possible staff to provide invaluable tutelage, such as West Indian legend Brian Lara, who has recently signed with the struggling Zimbabwe side.

Australia has widely been regarded as having the best coaches, and why shouldn't opposition sides tap into such talent? It's not like they can all coach Australia.

In international cricket, it is not uncommon to see two Australians coaching against each other in a match not involving the Baggy Green, with Geoff Lawson, Greg Chappell, Tom Moody, Trevor Bayliss, Jamie Siddons, and Steve Rixon just a sample of those who have coached international teams.

Rod Marsh and Troy Cooley are praised as idolised heroes in England for laying the framework for finally winning back the urn. Cooley, the fast-bowling guru, is credited with plotting Australia's downfall in the 2005 Ashes Series after teaching the art of reverse swing to the destroyers Steven Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. A lot of England's modern success and resurgence as a cricket powerhouse can be traced back to Marsh, who has played an influential role as head coach of England's Cricket Academy.

In other sports as well, we have seen rugby league maestro Wayne Bennett work as an assistant to Stephen Kearney with the New Zealand side, celebrating their recent victory over the Kangaroos in the recent Four Nations tournament. In rugby union we have seen Graham Henry working with Wales and the British Lions, Alan Jones with Japan and now the unthinkable, Robbie Deans, a former All Black, in charge of the Wallabies.

Who knows, one day we might even have someone other than an Australian in charge of the Test team. If that person is fully qualified and the right man for the job, then why not?