MIKE Gatting is optimistic that by the end of the summer he will have lost his tag as the last England skipper to win the Ashes.

Gatting led England to glory in Australia 18 years ago and since then England have suffered a series of one-sided setbacks.

But current captain Michael Vaughan and his players have shown their mettle in sweeping aside all other opposition in the past two years to claim the number two position in the world rankings.

Now Gatting feels they have their best chance for many years of reclaiming the coveted urn, with the first Test starting today at Lord's.

The 48-year-old said: "It would be wonderful to lose that claim to fame of being the last captain to win the Ashes for England.

"It has hung around my neck for too long. Cricket has been on the up in this country for two years and England have won five successive Test series and a lot of one-dayers.

"They have got two years of solid results and confidence behind them.

"Now they really need to ensure they compete and take the chance.

"They have the fire-power with guys like Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff and batsmen like Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen who doesn't know what it is like to lose to Australia.

"People tell me the Ashes is going to end up 2-1 to Australia but if it's that close, I think we can nick it. It would be good to have some happy England moments to focus on again at the expense of the Aussies.

"People know about Australia's main men, the (Shane) Warnes and (Glenn) McGraths of this world, but England have players who are match-winners and can face these guys toe-to-toe."

Even if England fail to triumph this summer, Gatting is confident that England will be victorious when they visit Australia for the next Ashes contest in 2006-07.

He said: "Perhaps the most important thing is that if they don't win this year, it won't be the end of things. England will have an even better chance in 2007 when a number of the current Australian team will have retired."