England will fight back

Freddie wants fight
By Sam Hathaway
November 27 2006

After Englands disappointing 1st test display many will wonder if England have the quality and the passion to fight back. If you cast your minds back to the last ashes series we saw a magnificant fightback after the 1st test but this time its a different story.

Flintoff was impressive with the ball but will be his own critic when it comes to his batting performance. Flintoff has not made a big score in a while now and he and his team will be hoping for the same passionate performance that retained us the ashes last time around.

"Australia put us under pressure from the word go and we took our time to get into the game," said Flintoff.

"We've been in this position before and we'll be looking forward to bouncing back in the second Test in Adelaide.

"But it was important the batters scored runs and put some partnerships together in this match."

Parts of the press had questioned whether England were under prepared for this series but Freddie quashed this theory.

We had a great preparation. We got a lot out of the warm-up games and quite a few of us were in India for a few weeks," said Flintoff.

Flintoff knows he wants more from Harmison and the sooner he is back on form the better.

"It's fair to say Harmy didn't click in this game but every time he goes on the field he gives his best," said Flintoff.

"He's been working hard in the nets and he'll probably continue to do so for the next few days to get his bowling back to where we'd like it to be."

The next test begins on Thursday night 0030 GMT.