"It's not sudden. Preparation, preparation, preparation."

Sexy Beast mentalist Don Logan was talking about the cliched "one last job" lined up for Ray Winstone's Gal.

But it applies just as well to England's Ashes success.

Meticulous Andy Flower, who is not a psychopath, might prefer the "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" mantra, but the point remains that all the myriad reasons why England have been so impressive Down Under come back to one word: preparation.

Never has a better prepared England squad set off for in pursuit of Ashes glory in Australia.

The media may have been predictably sniffy about the "boot camp" in Germany - especially after news emerged shambolically about James Anderson's boxing injury - but it helped bring a close-knit squad closer together.

Former Tottenham striker Steve Archibald once described team spirit as "an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory" and there's something in that: it's easy to be best mates when you're winning games.

But even before the series it was clear this England squad had a good mix of characters - something perhaps seen most clearly in Graeme Swann's video tour diaries.

As he led the players in a mass Sprinkler - which resembled a camp Haka - after victory in Melbourne there was no escaping the idea that these guys genuinely enjoy each other's company and success.

Such togetherness may well explain - at least in part - how the side were able to bounce back so impressively after Perth.

But the most significant pre-cursor of England's success was the fixture list announcement.

Andrew Strauss must surely have been a key figure here. Having witnessed the 2006/7 shambles first hand, he could simply have advised the powers that be to do the exact opposite.

Instead of playing a couple of beer games as Test preparation, England secured three warm-up games before the first Ashes clash: two against state opposition on Test venues, and one against Australia A at another major venue, the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Then England made another key decision. One that sounds obvious, but is surprisingly rare: they would try to win all those games.

So often, tour matches are treated as a chance to find a bit of form or give everyone a game. England treated them as serious match practice.

They beat Western Australia, dominated a rain-affected draw with South Australia before dismantling Australia A at Hobart.

In that final game, the Test attack were rested. This was chiefly due to the perceived differences between Hobart and Brisbane where the first Test was to be played. But it was also because of Andy Flower's oft-repeated assertion that the first-choice bowling attack was unlikely to get through five Tests in seven weeks unscathed.

It gave the likes of Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan vital match practice. Both have since come into the Test side with devastating effect, picking up 19 wickets at less than 20 apiece in three appearances between them.

And the bad news for Australia is that this England side did not prepare to retain the Ashes; they prepared to win the series and there is unlikely to be any let-up in Sydney.