Dawid Malan: England out to end WACA hoodoo and put one hand back on Ashes urn

Perception is reality, so they say. Well, this week, the England cricket team must stand up and demonstrate that, in the soulful words of Aretha Franklin, it ain’t necessarily so.

I am not referring to the media perception of this squad because enough newsprint has already been used on the latest saga of an overturned beer glass. Much more pressing is our desperate need to overturn the widespread perception that England teams simply can’t beat Australia in Test matches in Perth.

If we lose the Third Test at the WACA, we will have lost the series and surrendered the Ashes.

The history book doesn’t lie, chime the prophets of doom. Thirteen Tests played at this famous old ground between the teams have produced nine Australian wins, three draws and a solitary England win (and that was against an under-strength home team in 1978).

And yet you can usually find whatever you want in that same history book: turn the page and you will find that South Africa have beaten Australia on their past two Test visits to the WACA. The Baggy Green caps can be toppled on this patch.

We have, without exception, been warmly greeted by the friendly locals but we know Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon will be significantly less welcoming when play starts on a WACA pitch that has turned from green to white before our eyes. We are staying in serviced apartments overlooking the ground and, from my window, I have been able to watch day by day as the Test wicket has been shaved and rolled to produce a result.

The Australian fast bowlers will race in and we will need to be both mentally strong and physically brave; and one or two of us, ideally two, will need to score centuries, and then we will need to bowl in the right places and hold every chance that flies at us.

We will need to win session after session, to match fire with fire and then, just maybe, we will rubbish one perception by winning in Perth, and move on to Melbourne and Sydney suddenly needing just one more win to get a hand back on that urn. That’s the reality of perceptions... they can change within five days, or less.