Strauss: Aussies not scary anymore

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Strauss leads his team into the third npower Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday, weather permitting, feeling very differently about the intimidation level of the opposition.

"I don't think this Australia side has an aura about it," said Strauss. "Prior to this Test series starting, we didn't feel they had an aura about them."

He added: "That is not disrespectful to the players they've got - they have got a lot of very good players - but the aura came with the likes of Warne, McGrath, Hayden and Gilchrist.

"This team, over time, might develop an aura but right at the moment there are a lot of guys at the start of their Test careers, and by its very definition they don't have an aura about them.

"That's encouraging, it doesn't mean you are any more likely to beat them but it feels like you are playing against any other Test team.

"Having an aura means when the opposition teams, even though they're on top, are not confident they're going to beat you.

"They always expect something dramatic to happen which will bring the other team back in the game and put you under pressure again.

"We certainly felt that in 2006-07 in Australia: even when we had good days, we always had what was going to happen in the back of our minds.

"We were always thinking, what's going to happen now? Is Gilchrist going to blast a hundred or is Warne going to take five wickets from nowhere? It only comes with a consistent level of performance for a long period of time. Australia had that then but I personally don't think they've got that at the moment."