Flower: Seeds for win sown in Cardiff

England's great escape at Cardiff made their 115-run victory at Lord's possible, according to team director Andy Flower

Andy Flower has pin-pointed England's successful battle to save the first Test as the launchpad for their historic triumph at Lord's which secured an important early lead in the npower Ashes series.

Monday's 115-run triumph, their first against Australia at Lord's since 1934, has earned England a 1-0 advantage in the five-Test npower series - but only after they battled to prevent an almost certain defeat in the series opener at Cardiff.

That defiant performance on the final day at Cardiff, when Paul Collingwood batted for six and a half hours before last pair James Anderson and Monty Panesar survived the final 40 minutes to secure a draw, is looking like a series-defining moment now England have the upper hand.

"It was vitally important not to go 1-0 down so early in the series," explained England team director Flower.

"Historically we've got poor records in the first Tests of series and we identified it earlier in the year and did something about it against West Indies.

"We identified it again here going into this series against Australia and just sneaked in and did something about it, and we've now turned around the record at Lord's.

"The guys are proud of themselves but we've got a lot of work to do,” he added.

"We know they will regroup and come back hard at us and we've also got to take this opportunity to regroup and be ready to take the initiative again in the third Test match."