Flintoff says England want to create history

England captain Andrew Flintoff says the tourists have not given up hope of retaining the Ashes despite facing the prospect of re-writing the record books to beat Australia.

England need to win or at least draw the third test starting at the WACA today to have any hope of retaining the Ashes after losing the first two matches of the series.

England have never come back from 2-0 down to win the Ashes but Flintoff said his team were desperate to create history.

"This side has created a lot of history in a lot of countries in the last few years and to come back into this series now would be the ultimate," he told reporters.

"There's a huge incentive and we want to give a good account of ourselves. I don't think we need any more motivation than playing an Ashes series in Australia."

England were beaten by 277 runs in the first test in Brisbane, then lost the second match in Adelaide by six wickets.