Australia might desperately want to retain the Ashes, but they’ll have to get past this first

AUSTRALIA think they have a good chance of securing victory in England for the first time since 2001, but they’ll need to overcome a considerable obstacle first.

The Australian players during presentations following their loss after England retained the Ashes after defeating Australia ...

TEN years ago, Australia’s Ashes campaign was thwarted by a mercurial all-rounder with the ability to change a game with both bat and ball.

Now, in 2015, Australia face the worrying possibility of being confronted with a similar threat.

That man in 2005 was Andrew Flintoff, but in a frightening thought for the Aussies, he believes he wasn’t nearly as good as current England all-rounder Ben Stokes.

The former England legend told BBC Sport Stokes’ incredible skill set could see him become one of England’s greatest ever cricketers.

“I survived a lot on bravado but I think Stokes has a lot more skill,” said Flintoff.

“I think he could be one of England’s greats.”

The 37-year-old can lay claim to having a fair bit of skill himself, taking 226 wickets and scoring just shy of 4000 runs in the whites during a Test career spanning 79 matches.

24 of those wickets and 402 of those runs came in the Poms’ drought-breaking 2005 Ashes triumph, so Flintoff knows a little something about what it takes to win the prized urn.

Stokes showed what he was capable of during England’s recent home series against New Zealand, where he scored a blistering hundred at Lord’s off only 85 balls to record the fastest century by an Englishman in over 100 years.

Stokes can be equally as devastating with bat and ball.

He then produced arguably the ball of the series, delivering an unplayable inswinger to dismiss Kiwi captain Brendan McCullum first ball to inspire his side to victory.

The 24-year-old was also one of the few shining lights on England’s last visit down under in 2013-2014, scoring the visitors’ only century of the series in just his second game in Perth.

“He’s an impact player, a personality player,” said Flintoff.

“He will have quiet games, but when he does perform he will win matches.

“I wouldn’t judge him on averages or how many runs he goes for with the ball. Look back at the end of the series and see how many games he influences, and I think in the Ashes he could influence two or three games.

“It’s always hard when people get compared but I think Stokes should set his standards a little bit higher rather than think about me.”

“Freddy” believes his countrymen can overcome the disappointment of their 5-0 humiliation in the most recent Ashes contest to give Australia a run for their money, saying the home side has all the right ingredients for success.

“The captain is scoring runs, you have Ian Bell with 20-odd hundreds, Joe Root’s brilliant, Gary Ballance averages 50-odd, Adam Lyth has just scored a hundred and then you’ve got an all-rounder,” said Flintoff.

“Bowling wise, you’ve got Jimmy Anderson with 400 wickets, Stuart Broad 280. Mark Wood is raw but I quite like that about him, just let him run in and bowl quick — and then you’ve got Stokes backing that up.”

The Ashes kicks off in Cardiff on Wednesday July 8.