Plenty of Aussie batsmen have come to England and excelled.. but two factors make me very sceptical about claims for either the depth of batting talent in Austraia or (equally exagerated) the depth of batting talent in the English home counties (esp. Kent, Middlesex and Surrey).

{i} Pitches are truer and more durable than most motorway surfaces.

{ii} Conditions rarely suit swing bowling.

Of course.. {i} just compounds {ii}: if the pitch is completely trustworthy then even when the ball WILL swing the bowlers are afraid to try because that makes it more likely that they will stray onto the pads or wide.. and with no appreciable seam movement to worry about the batsmen will happily play with an open face or across the line and find risk-free runs square of the wicket.*

Proper cricket wickets should make scoring square of the wicket a high risk, "pinch hitter" tactic. So often in Australia it's more the norm. Get those same players on proper pitches and they'll suffer: they just ain't used to getting forward and playing straight and leaving anything that's not on the stumps.

I'd love to see the top Australian Domestic sides come over to Headingley, Trent Bridge, the Rose Bowl and the Riverside and play a knockout tournament (perhaps including top county sides) BUT WITH THE WICKETS UNCOVERED - I suspect some would thrive... but most would be cruelly exposed.

*That's why Simon Jones has been so reluctant to take the new ball in the past: he used to bowl his first over with the seam horizontal because he was afraid the horizontal movement would give the batsmen too much width. Criminal!!!!