STEPHEN Harmison was barely out of nappies when Ian Botham, with two epic, cavalier innings and one inspired spell of pace bowling, wrote his name into Ashes folklore.

Botham's Ashes, they call the 1981 series, and the mention of the indefatigable all-rounder's feats at Headingley, Edgbaston and Old Trafford still sends a shiver down the spine of any Australian cricket lover.

Fast-forward 21 years, and the Durham paceman who flew out to Australia this week is already allowing himself to dream that the forthcoming battle for the little urn could be known as Harmison's Ashes.

It might seem an unrealistic ambition, borne more out of hope than expectation, but after seven successive Test series defeats to the old enemy, one cannot accuse Harmison of giving up before a ball has been bowled in anger.

"If England are to win the Ashes, someone is going to make a name for themselves. Wouldn't it be great to win the Ashes and be able to say: 'I was the hero'?" he said.

"For England to win the Ashes this winter, Michael Vaughan or Marcus Trescothick will have to be the player of the series. We'll have to have good starts all the time.

"But it's a real incentive to turn round in future years and say it was you who made the difference; that it was you who took the important wickets or whatever.

"I was in Australia last year when they drew the series with New Zealand. Shane Bond is quick, and he ran in and gave it straight to them. They were ruffled by that.

"Australia are going to give it to us and I'm ready to fight back with everything I've got.

"New Zealand's quick bowlers knocked them back, so why can't we do the same?"

It was at Perth in 1998, amid the wreckage of another heavy defeat following a cataclysmic England batting collapse, that the tourists found a quick bowler they thought could bring about a brighter future.

He was Alex Tudor, and he could hardly have announced his arrival as an international cricketer in a more emphatic fashion, claiming Mark and Steve Waugh as his first two Test victims.

Four years later, though, injury has restricted Tudor to just nine Test caps, and an untimely loss of form cost him a seat on the plane that flew Down Under this week.

Harmison, who headed to Australia at the Surrey paceman's expense, envies the impact Tudor made on his Ashes debut - even though the Durham man enjoyed an impressive Test bow, taking five wickets against India at Trent Bridge in August.

The prospect of causing the Waughs' Ashes demise, after watching them batter England bowling attacks into submission for so long, is one that brings a smile to the face of Harmison, known as the Ashington Express.

"Mark and Steve Waugh have been Australia's rock whenever they've played against England for more than ten years, so it would be good to end their Test careers," he said.

"They're going through a bad trot at the moment and we'll be reminding them of that when they bat. Hopefully, we'll keep on top of them.

"I'd rather play against the Waugh brothers, who are on their way out, than against someone younger who wants to show he's worth picking again.

"If they're left out, the guys coming in will think, 'This is my chance to play Test cricket for five or six years'.

"Mark Waugh got a hundred for Essex against Durham on a flat wicket recently. But the Australian tracks will be very different and more suited to my bowling.

"The Waughs will really want to prove themselves in their last Ashes series, and with 18,000 Test runs between them they've had fantastic careers and are world-class players.

"But we want to show that England have improved, and doing well against two players who have performed so well against us in recent years would do that."

The imminent retirement of the Waugh brothers, who are currently scratching around for form during their series with Pakistan, means this series represents the end of an era for Australia.

And at 39 years young, England's Alec Stewart will have his final chance to erase the painful memories from a dozen years of Ashes misery this winter.

Yet, there are a healthy number of England players for whom failure against Australia is just something that happened to other people.

Pace bowlers Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff have never faced the Aussies in a Test series; neither has opening batsmen Vaughan, who was injured for much of the summer of 2001, or Robert Key.

The brittle backbone that characterised England teams of the past is long gone, replaced by a steely desire instilled by captain Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher.

Certainly, English cricket has rarely been in a healthier state since Australia last lost the Ashes, in 1986-87.

Where a tangible fear of defeat once hung over every England team, now there is a brazen belief that the impossible can be achieved.

Harmison, 23, said: "We've got a lot of young players who are a bit nave and they don't take much notice of the record books. We've got fighters and winners in our squad now, from Nasser Hussain - who can be fiery - all the way down.

"In the past, we had players who were worried about not getting another game, and they crumbled under the pressure of the Australians.

"But the players in the team now will stand up and be counted and fight for each other. If we do that, we'll give as good as we get.

"The Australians will stand in the middle of the wicket and have a few words, but we'll do exactly the same. We won't be shy.

"We're not going out there to make up the numbers. Nasser won't let us do that, and if we stand up to them we've got a good chance of winning the Ashes."