England Cricket / Editor / 01 April 2007 /

Andrew Flintoff believes that despite the unimpressive showings against the World Cup minnows, England are ready to up their game against the Test-playing nations.

Betfair punters have Michael Vaughan's side currently available at 2.9 to reach the semi-finals of this summer's showpiece in the Caribbean in a market where layers are not offering any odds on Australia, who look certain to qualify for the Super 8s.

However, Freddie believes that despite the below par performances against Canada, Kenya and Ireland, it was the result that was key in those games and, with confidence now somewhat restored, they can up their game in the forthcoming matches against Sri Lanka and then Australia.

Sri Lanka are England's next opponents in Antigua on Wednesday and in the match odds market the South Asian nation find themselves favourites at 1.58, with England trading at 2.66.

Flintoff is well aware they will pose far more questions than the last three sides that England have faced, but believes that the players are ready for the test.

"This is a talented team and we can all perform a little bit better than what we are doing and everyone will be striving to do that," he said.

However, Betfair punters and England fans will remember how Sri Lanka demolished Duncan Fletcher's side 5-0 last summer, and have suffered only one defeat so far in this tournament, when narrowly losing out in a thriller against South Africa.

The Lancastrian all-rounder knows they have some wonderfully gifted players and the side will be punished if they are not on top of their game.

"When we go against Sri Lanka next week we're going to need to do that because if we're not playing as well as we can do, you can get found out against them," he added. "We've put in a professional performance against Kenya and played all right against Ireland and I think we need to up it a little bit now.

"We're going to need all the lads firing at the same time if we want to progress and beat the likes of Sri Lanka and Australia next week."

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