Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal in Adelaide on why the English Cricket team has gone off the boil Cricket fan Heston Blumenthal on why the Poms are off the boil. THEY collapsed like a failed soufflé in Brisbane, so who better to ask why the Poms have gone off the boil than celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal. Blumenthal was in Adelaide this week ahead of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide, starting next Thursday. Asked for his assessment of England's woes after a disastrous start to the series, Blumenthal, a self-confessed cricket fan, said the team didn't have an ability problem - they just needed to play the Aussies at their own game. "Those (English) players certainly don't have a talent issue," Blumenthal said. I think they need to get on with some proper sledging, the England team, they're just not sledging enough. I think the Aussies invented cricket sledging, didn't they? Blumenthal said he'd had his own good-natured sledging match over the years - with top Sydney chef Neil Perry - and had the upper hand, until the last Test. "Neil has given me so much stick, until we won The Ashes back," he said. You know that classic photograph of Freddy (Flintoff) consoling Brett Lee? I got the photo and Freddy to sign it and sent it off to Neil. Despite their poor start, Blumenthal said it was too soon to call the series a disaster for England. "It's only the first Test," he said. This is one of the most resilient English cricket teams that we've had. I know you're looking at me, (thinking) 'nah'. The Adelaide Test historically has been quite a hard one to win, hasn't it? So ask me after this one and I might not be so buoyant and confident and bullish. In Saturday's Advertiser: From fritz to frog cakes - Heston's great South Aussie food taste test. Follow @GregBarila on Twitter