England can retain Ashes - Flintoff

England captain Andrew Flintoff says his team no longer hold any fears about playing Australia and are confident of retaining the Ashes.

England have not won a series in Australia for 20 years and have been given little chance of winning this time despite their surprise victory at home last year.

"A lot of the lads have not played a series in Australia before," Flintoff told a news conference after arriving in Sydney.

"So we've come here open-eyed looking forward to playing in different conditions against the best team in the world."

England picked a squad of 16 players for the five-match series and Flintoff said the team for the first test, starting in Brisbane on November 23, was still undecided.