Chappell says deeds count on field

West Indies Master Blaster Viv Richards used to swagger to the crease and back up his confident body language by letting his bat do the talking.

Whether Australia can continue to talk tough and deliver on the field in this Ashes series is yet to be seen, but former Test skipper Greg Chappell has warned confidence can be fleeting.

England, as their pace bowler Stuart Broad argues, came back from a poor start in their Test tour of India in 2012 and a near-defeat in a drawn first Ashes Test of 2009 to claim series victories.

They've lost the first Test in Brisbane, but head to Adelaide next week with high hopes.

"I don't think they'd be overreacting. They come out and start well in Adelaide and it can change quickly enough," says Chappell.

"David Warner, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke were for me the key batsmen this series.

"Someone like Mitch Johnson had the potential to do what he did (nine wickets in the match) but whether or not he could do it was the question mark.

"But suddenly the balance has shifted.

"Our confidence has lifted, theirs is dented a little bit."

Chappell says Australia's three-nil loss in the 2013 Ashes series in the UK wasn't a fair reflection of the two teams' talents.

"For that reason I was hopeful if we could improve in certain areas we could show the difference between the two teams is not that great," says Chappell, who is Cricket Australia's national talent manager.

"Australia have shown on their day they're good enough to beat anyone."

Clarke was fined for an on-field sledge at the Gabba directed at England tailender Jimmy Anderson and Warner labelled England's batsmen fearful.

Chappell says words can be cheap.

"You can talk as good a game as you like but it depends on who plays the best on the day," he said.

"If that (Clarke's warning to Anderson to prepare for a broken arm) hadn't of gone to air no one would have known about it.

"They wouldn't have known what it was about and it's probably best it was left that way.

"The game wouldn't be worth watching if the players didn't invest any emotion in it. If you invest emotion in something every now and then it'll bubble over.

"As long as it doesn't go past that I don't think it's an issue."

Chappell says having a swagger can be overrated.

"You can be out of confidence one minute and in-form the next," he says.

"It depends on the ebbs and flows of a game.

"I don't think Australia will get carried away with their victory and I don't think England will be too despondent about their loss but beware the wounded animal."

Chappell says the value of on-field barbs is also exaggerated.

It's the quiet ones you have to watch.

"As far as it being concerted and a tactical thing, it's overestimated," Chappell says.

"We knew they had turned up to play by the way they went about it and I would like to think most teams felt the same way about the better Australian teams.
"The teams I played against, the ones who talked the most are not the ones you have to worry about."
AAP