'England will be tough to beat' - Langer

Despite having won only two Tests since regaining the Ashes last summer, Justin Langer believes England will remain an extremely difficult prospect when the series starts in November.

"People are saying England have stuttered a little, but they have got players like Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and a very good bowling attack," Langer told BBC's Sport on Five. "They are going to be very tough to beat."

At 35, Langer may well be readying himself for a last Ashes campaign and he said the side is determined to make life difficult for their opponents. "Most of the core of the team who lost last time will be together and will be doing everything we can to be ready and to give England as hard a time as possible, as hard as England gave us last summer," he said. "We are taking the Ashes seriously. It's going to be a massive event, as big as the football World Cup is in your part of the world, and I'd love to be a part of it."

Langer also spoke of the pain of losing the Ashes for the first time in almost 20 years. "Since the day we returned from England [last September] there was a lot of soul-searching," he said. "It hurt losing the Ashes. We were so successful for so long. But for us to lose to England showed other countries that the competition was still on. I think losing the Ashes was great for world cricket, English cricket and, to a degree, Australian cricket."