England captain Andrew Strauss says Australia have lost their previous aura and opposition teams are no longer in awe of them.

England are 1-0 ahead in the series after the heroics of Andrew Flintoff at Lord’s last week and are imbued with the belief that the Ashes can be regained this summer.

Strauss admitted that in previous series, even when England were in strong positions, the fear of Australia’s experienced match-winners meant they never felt truly comfortable.

“I don’t think this Australian side has an aura about it,” Strauss was quoted as saying in the ‘Daily Telegraph’. “We didn’t think so even before the series started.

“Not to be disrespectful, they still have some great players. The aura came from players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

“A lot of the guys in this team are at the start of their Test careers and necessarily don’t have an aura yet.

“Playing Australia now feels like playing any other Test team.”

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has revealed he is considering retiring at the end of his current contract.

The 29-year-old England midfielder has a deal until 2013 with the Reds, but admits it could be his last in football.

“I’ll be 33 at the end of my contract, and it’s doubtful whether I’ll carry on,” he said in an interview with France Football. “If I decide to stop, I’ll be proud of the fact I’ve spent my entire career with the same club.”

Gerrard also revealed he gave serious thought to leaving Anfield for Chelsea four years ago, but changed his mind late in the day.

“I’ve thought about leaving Liverpool twice during my career, especially in 2005 when Chelsea was a temptation,” he added.

“But I’m glad I never turned those thoughts into reality.”

Pakistan captain Younis Khan demanded strict action against ICC match referee Chris Broad for demeaning Pakistan.

“The ICC has strict code of conduct for players we cant even make gestures. But what about officials what right does Broad have to publicly demean our country, our policemen and our cricket board. Some action must be taken against him,” Younis thundered while reacting to Broad’s comments that officials felt like “sitting ducks” during the attack.

Younis said while the attack, that left six Sri Lankan players injured, is condemnable, it cannot be used as an excuse to isolate Pakistan.

“Solutions must be found not excuses. What has happened has happened but people should not use this an excuse to isolate and abandon Pakistan cricket.

“I think this blame game of what went wrong and who is responsible for the attack on the Sri Lankan team must stop. What happened was tragic and shocking but it could have happened anywhere in the world given the terrorist threats the world faces nowadays,” Younis said.

“I am disappointed that all sorts of conspiracy theories are being floated around as to why our team didn’t leave with the Sri Lankans for the ground. Some people are suggesting it was planned to delay the departure of our team,” Younis added.

Younis made it clear there was no conspiracy behind the Pakistan team’s decision to leave five minutes after the Sri Lankans.”The reason for this was simple. We had fielded on the first two days of the test and we were batting on the third day so I wanted the boys to relax a bit. Normally when teams are fielding they reach the ground early to warm up,” he explained.

He said even during the first Test in Karachi, the Pakistan team had once left before the Sri Lankans and once after them.

“So what is so unusual about this?” he asked.

He suggested the International Cricket Council (ICC) work with member boards, including Pakistan, to enhance and improve security plans for visiting and home teams.

Younis said if Pakistan cricket gets isolated, it would mean thousands of youngsters losing interest in the sport and becoming easy targets for terrorism.

“Cricket is one thing that keeps Pakistanis together and involved if we don’t have cricket it will mean more problems for us,” he said.

Captain Steven Gerrard is in the Liverpool squad to face Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 tie.

Gerrard has been out for three weeks with a hamstring injury but was able to take part in training at Melwood this morning and is poised to travel to the Spanish capital.

The England star was thought to have been close to featuring in yesterday’s 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Manchester City but was ruled out by manager Rafael Benitez late last week.

Benitez told www.liverpoolfc.tv: “Steven will be in the squad. He was okay in training this morning.

“It was a special training session so we were not testing him 100%, but he trained okay so we will see.”

Gerrard has not played for the Reds since limping out of the FA Cup fourth round replay defeat at Everton on February 4.

His return would be a huge boost for Benitez after yesterday’s disappointment, which saw Liverpool end the weekend seven points behind leaders Manchester United.

Xabi Alonso also missed the match against City through suspension but can return at the Bernabeu, raising the prospect of Benitez being able to select his first choice midfield against the club whose youth teams he used to coach.

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh believes the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India is now on a par with the Ashes.

Waugh is in no doubt that the rivalry between Australia and India has the potential to eventually become the biggest on the international stage.”It’s really at its height now because of the two premier sides in world Test match cricket coming together,” Waugh said ahead of the third Test in Delhi, which begins on Wednesday.

“The rivalry’s been built up, we have had some great series, the last couple have been fantastic and it gets bigger and bigger every year so it almost rivals the Ashes series and it probably is right now.

“And it will get bigger because India really is the focal point of world cricket right now.”

Waugh said that he has found the latest instalment of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy enjoyable so far coming off the back of the memorable series in Australia last summer between the two countries.

“Australia did well in the first Test, probably dominated that, obviously India played very well in the second Test at Mohali,” added Waugh.

“Australia have got a chance, there’s no doubt about it. India will feel confident coming into this Delhi Test match but Australia also know that if they play well they’re a chance of winning so it’s all set for a good last two Tests.”

Waugh’s optimism for the visitors’ chances of victory in the third Test is based in part on what he has seen from the players at training after joining a session on Tuesday.

“It’s been a really impressive session actually, really good intensity,” said Waugh who hit 32 centuries in 168 Tests.

“The fielding was good, which is always a good sign for a team leading into a Test match, so I think they’re in pretty good shape.”

India lead the four Test series 1-0 after winning the second Test in Mohali by 320 runs following the drawn first Test in Bangalore.