Rookies hold England key - Warne

Flintoff and Jones have played big roles in England's recent success

Shane Warne feels England have a decent chance of winning the Ashes back from Australia because some of their key men are not carrying the scars of defeat.

Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones are set to make their Ashes debuts when the first Test starts on 21 July at Lord's.

And leg-spinner Warne said: "The good thing for England is a few of them have never played Test cricket against us.

"And Michael Vaughan played superbly in Australia, as well as anyone has."

Warne, Test cricket's all-time leading wicket-taker with 583 victims, has been a thorn in England's side for more than a decade and has taken 132 wickets in his 26 Ashes Tests.

England have lost the last seven series, but he feels this could be the most closely-fought since Mike Gatting's men triumphed 2-1 Down Under in 1986/7.

Their brand of cricket has been exciting to watch Warne on England

Vaughan has led his team to five successive Test series triumphs, which has seen them climb to second in the team rankings.

"They have a lot of things going for them," Warne admitted. "The way they've been playing, their brand of cricket, has been positive and exciting to watch.

"They've beaten everyone they've come up against, which is all they can do, and to get to number two in the world is a great achievement."

But the 35-year-old warned England that his side will still take some beating.

Hayden launches into a powerful off-drive at Arundel

"Most of the guys have been on two or three Ashes tours, played in a World Cup or had a year or two in county cricket - they know the conditions here and what to expect," he added.

Warne will not link up with the Australians until 11 July and missed the tour opener, a Twenty20 match against a Professional Cricketers' Association XI at Arundel on Thursday.

The tourists cruised to an eight-wicket win in which Matthew Hayden made 79 off 46 balls.

"For us it's always difficult to start here in such different conditions so it's nice to have a bit of batting in middle," the opening batsman said.

"The last few weeks we've been playing a lot of net cricket which has been frustrating for us so having a bit of gameplay is fun."

Australia's next match is the Twenty20 international against England at the Rose Bowl on Monday.

They then take part in the triangular NatWest Series, which also features Bangladesh, before three more one-day games in the NatWest Challenge against England.