England will mount a challenge - Buchanan

John Buchanan predicts that England will "mount a challenge" during the Ashes series with a squad that has moved forward from regular Australian maulings. As the players gathered for a pre-tour camp in Brisbane, Buchanan said England, who have won 19 of 29 Tests since the last series, now had an idea of how they wanted to win.

"They play with a deal of confidence in themselves and a deal of expectation that they will play well and go on to win the series," he said in The Australian. "They look like they can play different styles of game. They look like they can be attacking if they want to be, and they can play a defensive game if they need to."

Buchanan said the bottom line was that England looked as if they could mount a challenge. "They are the things they have sorted out over the last 18 months," he said. "If I was them, I would be looking forward to the series with great confidence."

Andrew Flintoff is expected be the biggest threat to Australia, but Buchanan warned his side against targeting individual players. Glenn McGrath has already singled out Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss, but Buchanan said the No. 3 spot, where Vaughan is likely to bat after scoring a century against Bangladesh last week, was always a key position. "We would like to control that top order of theirs, openers through three and four," he said in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australia leave for London on Saturday for two one-day series, and the Test-only players will join the squad in July. The first of the five matches starts at Lord's on July 21.