So much has been said about the quality, or perhaps lack thereof, of the Australian Test team, particularly the bowling attack, but also increasingly of the batting order. From authoritative voices such as Geoff Lawson right down to the common cricket tragic, the word is that the Australian team may be (dare I say it?) the worst since the ‘bad old days of Australian cricket' when a rebel tour to South Africa in the 1980s left the regular Test side completely depleted.

The batting order leaves plenty to be desired in the consistency stakes. It consists of Shane Watson and the now injured Simon Katich, along with cameo appearances from Clarke, Ponting, Hussey and North - the latter two having dodged more bullets than Al Capone. Watson's conversion rate of two centuries from 43 innings is increasingly becoming a point of concern.

Then there's the bowling attack. What has been dubbed the ‘Spin Cycle' is the merry-go-round of Aussie tweakers who have promised so much but delivered so little. Over the last half decade, the alphabet soup of underachievers includes names like Bryce McGain, Dan Cullen, Jason Krejza, Steven Smith, Nathan Hauritz and, currently, Xavier Doherty. These poor souls are the victims of an era immediately following the retirement of arguably the world's best ever bowler, one S.K Warne.

But while the Australians cop a hammering from all angles this Ashes series, aren't the English batsmen going just a little unheralded? This may be the best English top six since the 1954/1955 touring side to Australia. Admittedly, that side included names like Hutton, Edrich, Compton, May and Cowdrey. It may well have been the greatest team of all time. But this top six is a delight to watch and with every flash of the blade and every milestone reached, one can't help but compare it with other great sides of the past.

While relatively young, has not this formidable line-up the potential to scale the heights of perhaps the Australian top six of the record winning streak years? Surely names such as Hayden, Langer, Ponting, the Waughs and Martyn cannot be matched in their greatness? What about Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman? These were both incredibly talented sides. Run machines with the ability to bat for days and whip up mammoth totals to completely annihilate their opponents. But after the performances so far of this English side including massive aggregates in Brisbane and Adelaide (which resulted in an innings victory), two double centuries and three more tons, I'm not certain of the invincibility of the past. Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood and Bell still have plenty of tests in them. And with plenty of tests comes plenty of potential.

Keep a close eye on the rest of this series, because you just may see a new powerhouse emerge in test cricket. This top six, should they continue on their merry way, will surely eclipse several records and begin to dominate just as their mighty predecessors once did - average attacks or not.