England confident ahead of their Ashes challenge

The England squad flew out of Heathrow bound for Perth yesterday looking to retain the urn and become the first side to triumph Down Under since Mike Gatting's men emerged victorious in 1986-87.

Former England opener Morris, now the managing director of England Cricket, believes current coach Flower and captain Strauss can emulate that success when the five-match series gets under way on November 25 and eradicate the memory of the 5-0 whitewash on their last visit.

He said: "The players are quietly confident and looking forward to the challenge of touring Australia.

"We are pleased with the way we have played over the last 18 months, I think the leadership that Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have shown the players has been fantastic and the players have responded really well to that.

"Over the last 18 months we are pleased with the performances we have put in. Our results have been good both home and away and we go to Australia with some confidence."

While strong leadership has certainly played a part in England's impressive recent form, Morris acknowledges several players have come to the fore and will again be asked to lead by example Down Under.

He added: "Good leadership has been part of it but we also have a lot of very good players.

"Over the last 18 months the likes of Graeme Swann have been outstanding.

"And while we have some world-class players we have played really well as a team and when we have found ourselves in difficult corners we have fought our way out of the corners and produced some good results.

"We are looking forward to going to Australia, it's a fantastic country to visit and a fantastic country to go to as an England cricket team."

Merv Hughes has lost his job as an Australia selector just weeks before the start of the Ashes.

Former paceman Hughes was the man to miss out with Greg Chappell joining the four-man board alongside David Boon, Jamie Cox and chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch.