Adam Parore: Aussies should watch their tongues

There's something a touch primeval about this season's Ashes series, a sense of the old bull being finally challenged by a worthy adversary, amid much clashing of horns and pawing of the ground.

It's one of the most fascinating aspects of top sport, when an established but waning No 1 comes up against the soon-to-be pack leader, usually resulting in epic battles and career-ending consequences.

It's happening right in front of us as England and Australia slug out one of the most compelling Ashes series since Ian Botham wrote his own script in 1981.

England are back as a world power and are still improving as Australia are on the ebb.

I don't think it's unfair to suggest that a good number of the Aussies have played their best cricket, and now they're trying everything under the sun to retain their advantage.

Take Shane Warne. He's talking a pretty big game at the moment, incorrectly naming Kevin Pietersen as his likely 600th scalp, and then turning his guns on Andrew Strauss, dubbing him his "new Daryl Cullinan".

I enjoy watching the Aussies trying to put pressure on key parts of their opponents' game, and trying to isolate specific players with some pretty outrageous vitriol.

But I wonder if Warnie is taking it a bit far, and it might end up biting him on the bum.

The Aussies have recognised the threat England are, so they're using all their gamesmanship to apply the blowtorch off the field to cover up their growing deficiencies on it.

I couldn't believe what Warnie said about Strauss, and you can bet if he's saying that in the press, he'll be saying a helluva lot more in the middle.

His public mocking of such quality opposition is dangerous.

It's that mental disintegration thing all over again, except this time the Aussies are talking the talk better than they're walking the walk.

As for the Zimbabwe-New Zealand series, I think the two-day test match proved what most people are saying, that the International Cricket Council should suspend Zimbabwe from participating in the Future Tours Programme until they show a sustained improvement.

It's just been a complete waste of time and the ICC need to take more responsibility, rather than simply introducing teams to the world game and then leaving them to it.

It's not like Zimbabwe just stopped producing good players; they simply imploded, as they have done as a nation.

Surely the ICC should also accept some accountability for how they're developing.

I feel a bit ripped off even as a former player, because I had to spend months touring their country and playing against them even though they were never going to win.

We just accepted that it was a development exercise for the good of the game.

They had a pretty good side at that stage, with the Flowers, the Streaks, the Goodwins and so forth.

We always expected to beat them but we knew they'd be competitive and that on their day, they'd give us a real hurry-up.

In fact, Andy Flower put us to the sword on more than one occasion.

But now they're in worse shape than when they started, and should be suspended from tests until they show they can compete.

People talk about Bangladesh as a comparison but you'd expect they'd get better for the simple reason that they've got the numbers.

In time, they'll be up there with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Why wouldn't they?

Whatever happens to Zimbabwe, I think that if the ICC are going to allow these countries to play test cricket, they should also be ensuring that the integrity of the game is upheld and that the product isn't adversely affected.

And that won't happen if we have more farces like the one in Harare.