The English Cricket Board has banned wives and girlfriends from the first six weeks of the Vodafone Ashes series which started on Thursday, while in contrast the Australians will be able to have their families stay with them at the team's accommodation whenever they like.

It comes after Cricket Australia commissioned research from relationship and social experts which revealed having WAGS on tour eased the strain on family life and was a positive move for harmony.

Experts have applauded the decision and say a partner can have a calming influence on an athlete while helping them focus on their performance as well as relaxing. Sports psychologist Jacqui Louder said every player needs to be taken into consideration before a team decision is made, regardless of its nature. "It's not about whether the WAGS are there or not, but how boundaries are set and understood. I think there are more benefits for having them there," she said.

"But the women need to know when they should and shouldn't be around and adults generally have boundaries within their relationships and know when to be supportive and when to back off."

Louder listed significant benefits, adding that partners provide stability and a sense of normalcy. "The girlfriends and wives ride the waves of what happens on the field. The women have the players when they are playing well, out of form and injured and are a confidant. "And by talking to and supporting them they can often get the player up mentally or emotionally for the next day. "Cricketers travel for the majority of the year and when you travel so much a loved one can represent a much-needed link back home."

Australian Test great Justin Langer, who is now the national batting coach, believes a delicate balance is they key. "I don't have any trouble with them being on tour as long as they get on. Really the responsibility of the women is to get on and form a team within a team," he said.

My experience is if things are good off the field you generally perform on it. "But there's this perception that touring is glamorous, there nothing much glamorous about it when you're travelling with young kids."

Langer said off field harmony spilled on to the field during Australia's glory days of the past decade. "The real reason why we had such a successful era was because the WAGS got on like a house on fire," he said.

"One of the most successful things about the Australian cricket team is the camaraderie in the group. I look back at our era and Hayden, the Waughs, Damien Martyn and Brett Lee were my best mates. My wife Sue, Kel Hayden, Mel Gilchrist, Lynette Waugh, Jane McGrath and Simone Warne were all great mates. And even now Sue speaks to Kel and Mel almost every day and probably more than I'd speak to Matt and Adam."

Speaking on radio, Australian coach Tim Nielsen embraced the decision, believing it would have a positive impact on his squad. "I think cricket must be the only game in the world where a bloke goes to work and he doesn't go home to his wife at the end of the day's work," he said. "I think it's probably a good thing. We've never run away from that. We've won series in the past where we've had wives and partners around the place and we've probably lost a couple as well. It doesn't make any difference, if that's the excuse for us losing the Ashes series we've got a few things to look at rather than just that."