‘Just hold on…’

England captain Andrew Flintoff said his young team were still upbeat despite their dire situation in the opening Ashes test against Australia.

England captain Andrew Flintoff said his young team were still upbeat despite their dire situation in the opening Ashes test against Australia.

England could hardly have made a worse start to their Ashes defence after slumping to 53 for three in reply to Australia’s massive 602 for nine declared at stumps on the second day at the Gabba on Friday. Flintoff admitted the tourists faced an uphill battle saving the first test but said his team had not given up hope and spirits remained high.

“There’s a lot character in the side and the side are looking to the challenge of this series,” Flintoff told a news conference. “They’re not deflated, it’s just the first two days of the series and we just have to get better. You never want to lose quick wickets but that happened and we just have to get on with it now and just have to bat well.”

Flintoff said the enormous hype surrounding the series had contributed to his team’s nervous start but the players had already learnt a lot from the past two days. “Going into a series like this, you have to expect a few nerves knocking around,” he said. “It’s a young side, and turning up and playing game of the magnitude of this, there will be nerves around, but the lads have experienced that now so they know what to expect for the rest of the game. We’ve played against them before and we know Australia do come hard at you. That’s something we expected and that’s something that they’ve done.”