History there for the taking

Andrew Flintoff knows England have a tough task ahead of them in Perth © Getty Images

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England will seek inspiration from some of their record-breaking exploits as they seek to engineer one of the great fightbacks in cricket history.

The tourists enter the third Test at the WACA knowing only one side - Australia in 1936-7 - has overturned a two-Test deficit to win or draw a series.

Yet rather than become intimidated by having the weight of history against them, the tourists have become inspired by a desire to upset expectations once again.

“It would be huge for us,” admitted captain Andrew Flintoff. “This side has created a lot of history in the past few years in a lot of countries and to come back into this series now would be the ultimate.”

Just in the last few years England have stacked up an impressive list of record-breaking achievements including their 2004 series win in the Caribbean, their first since 1969.

They also claimed their first triumph in South Africa since 1964-5 only two winters ago, a win which was part of a record six successive series triumphs.

But the most unexpected success of all was only 14 months ago when England ended 18 years of waiting to reclaim the Ashes with a stunning triumph over Australia.

If the tourists cap this winter, though, by coming back from losing the opening two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide to retain the Ashes, it would rank as their greatest triumph of all.

“We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved as a team in the last three or four years and we want to carry on doing that,” explained Flintoff.

Steve Harmison was a major factor in the England team's success in the West Indies

“We want to carry on creating history as a team. We are very much aware that we would be creating history if we did come back into the series and it’s something we desperately want to do.”

Flintoff has needed all his leadership skills to try and pick up his side in the last few days since their heart-breaking defeat at Adelaide, where they competed for the first four days only to slide to a six-wicket defeat on the final day.

It has been hard coming to terms with the disappointment of that setback, but Flintoff said: “We’ve had to get Adelaide out of our system.

“We were probably in shock at Adelaide and then two days later it sunk in and then you’ve got to move on. A lot of good things came out of the Test in Adelaide but for two hours of play we lost our way and lost the Test and it just shows you can’t do that playing against Australia.”

Those defeats have prompted the inevitable criticism of Flintoff’s captaincy, but he has learned not to read the newspapers and is determined to relish every moment of his first full Ashes tour.

He added: “Apart from the defeats I’ve enjoyed the trip, I think all the lads have.

“When you lose Test matches you will get criticism and that’s something I’m prepared to take. I’ve had it before and I’m sure I’ll have it again. I’m happy in what I’m doing and I’ve given the job everything I’ve got and I can rest easy in that.”