England captain Andrew Flintoff has declared the Ashes win last year was no one-off but did reveal that the tourists are 'desperate' to back up that victory by retaining the urn on Australian soil.
On Tuesday, vice-captain Andrew Strauss said Australia would be the more desperate side as it bids to regain the Ashes after a painful 14-month hiatus.
But Flintoff, who also said this year's campaign 'could be the biggest series ever', made it clear the English had a steely determination to prove the detractors wrong and win back-to-back Ashes series for the first time since 1986-87.
"The side as a whole over the past three years or so have put in some great performances against good sides," Flintoff said.
"The Ashes 2005 we don't see as a one-off. We beat almost everyone else we played against with the exception of Pakistan in Pakistan."
"The one thing we're desperate to do is back up the performance in 2005 with another good one out here."
The popular Flintoff reacted quickly to nip in the bud any talk of Michael Vaughan reclaiming the captaincy later in the series.
Vaughan is in Brisbane continuing his recovery from a knee injury although is thought to be a while away from restarting his international career after an enforced 12-month break.
And the new skipper also dismissed the notion that England under Vaughan had peaked during the previous Ashes series.
Flintoff pointed to the fact they started that series by handing Kevin Pietersen his Test debut while rookie Ian Bell had played just three Tests before and Paul Collingwood, who played in the fifth Test at the Oval, just twice.
Pietersen and Bell now average 48.38 and 47.66 in Tests after 18 matches apiece with Collingwood, sometimes thought to be a one-day specialist, tallying an average of a little over 41 from 15 matches.
England does, however, still have the likes of Alastair Cook, Sajid Mahmood, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar who have all made their Test debuts in the interim while Marcus Trescothick's replacement Ed Joyce is uncapped.
"We played well in 2005 but I don’t know if we peaked," said Flintoff.
"If you look at the side now some of the lads who played in that series hadn't played a great deal of Test cricket. Since then they've played more and have gained more experience."
"We've had a few people come in since then through various reasons who have come in and performed."
"The side being as young as it is, it would be dangerous to say it's peaked."
"As a side we're gaining more experience and getting better."
