Sitting up all night to watch the much anticipated start of the Ashes has been rather like backing that unreliable hurdler who finally seemed to string a few performances together and win you over, only to laugh at you when you parted with your hard earned in support.

Confidence in sport has a massive impact.

If England had been told that the first ball of the series would end safely in Flintoff’s hands at second slip they would have been delighted. Unfortunately the scenario that unfolded has left Steve Harmison looking, in the words of one of my colleagues, Stewart Machin, shot to bits!

Rather like the feeling I experience standing on the first tee, Harmison looked as if he would give anything just to get the ball down to the other end in a vaguely acceptable fashion rather than as if he was concentrating on which of the weapons in his armoury he was about to unload on the opposition batsmen.

Some like Flintoff, however, seem to relish the adversity, but I fear that having that type of player as your captain will prove to be one of several mistakes that should at least ensure the nation’s sleep patterns will improve as the winter progresses.

Those types of personality exist in all sports and can provide profitable betting angles. The best racing example would, for me, be comparing Frankie Dettori to Kieren Fallon.

Dettori is a confidence rider, multiple winners abound on days when things go right. There is a sense of inevitability in those circumstances and I wonder what carnage would have been caused had exchanges been around for Fujiyama Crest’s Ascot race. However when the reverse occurs you can almost see the droop in the shoulders, the quiver of the lip and on some occasions, the excuses given for rides such as Swain in the Breeders Cup and Librettist in the King George, seem attempts to deflect blame and responsibility. From a betting point of view which Dettori you have riding for you is of crucial importance.

By contrast Fallon has more of the Flintoff about him. More naturally reticent he has the ability to channel pressure and crisis into his riding. Seldom does he ride better than when seemingly in a corner, almost as if the need to feel he is taking on the world provides the focus and motivation to excel.

All are wonderfully talented sportsman but just need different sets of circumstances to display those talents to the full.

Rather more uncomfortable, but definitely more profitable, might be a frank assessment of how these characteristics apply to your own betting.

Are you someone who seems to have inspired runs with even impossible looking cards being easily dissected and priced up when you are ‘flying’?

If so, your Achilles heel is almost certainly poor decision making and finding excuses when things go wrong, or alternatively the racing equivalent of the ‘yips’ where demons are seen in even the most strongest of opinions in the most straight forward of races in the midst of losing runs – if so you are more Harmison and Dettori .

Alternatively is your strength in adversity? Does your capacity to turn losing days round underpin your success as a punter. If so there is more of the Fallon and Flintoff about you but you may need to be behind the eight ball for those qualities to bear fruit.

Either way, knowing when to ‘press and play or walk away’ based on an honest appraisal of your own personality, can be one of the most profitable angles of all.