England Cricket / Editor / 03 March 2007 /

All-rounder Andrew Flintoff is aiming to help England win the forthcoming World Cup following two poor campaigns in 1999 and 2003.

The Lancashire star, who skippered the side for the majority of the past year due to Michael Vaughan's prolonged absence, was in the England party which arrived in the West Indies on Friday evening to prepare for the tournament that gets underway on Tuesday, March 13.

Vaughan is back fit and in charge of the team to leave Flintoff able to concentrate on his cricket and he is looking to help England progress past the initial group stage, which they have failed to do in the previous two World Cups.

He said: "I've played in two World Cups and I've not even reached the second round yet.
"It only comes round every four years and we really want to achieve something this time. It's been nice going into a World Cup concentrating on cricket."

He added in The Sun: "The one in 1999 (in England), there was a pay dispute. I was 20, a new boy, and kept my head down but it was not an ideal way to prepare.

"Then the Zimbabwe issue in South Africa was a bit of a nightmare. I have no fond memories of that World Cup, even though it probably did kick-start my career again.

"In our final group game against the Aussies, we felt we had it won - but Andy Bichel took seven wickets and then came in to win it with the bat.

"It was through no real fault of our own but that result sent us out.

"In Test cricket, the Ashes is our pinnacle and in one-day cricket it is the World Cup. Winning this would be on a par with winning the Ashes.

"This England team have a habit of making history and the World Cup is another milestone because we've not won it and we haven't really competed since 1992."

England are available at 2.06 to emerge from Group C as winners, while favourites New Zealand are trading at 1.96.

England can be backed at 2.12 to reach the semi-finals and 4.1 to go one better and reach the final, while Vaughan's men can also be backed at 11.5 to triumph in the Caribbean.

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