Barbados: England coach Andy Flower has insisted his side will keep their World Twenty20 final win over Australia in perspective ahead of the upcoming Ashes series with their oldest foes.

England, who hold the Ashes after a 2-1 win on home soil last year, beat Australia by a convincing seven wicket margin at the Kensington Oval here on Sunday to win their first major international limited overs title.

England now plays a home series against Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as several one-day internationals against Australia, before heading ‘Down Under’.

England have not won a Test series in Australia since 1986/87 and, with several of the personnel on both sides in the five-day format set to be different from the respective Twenty20 teams, Flower was wary of reading too much into Sunday’s success.

“The Ashes tour is six months away,” he said here on Monday ahead of England’s departure from the Caribbean.

“Every time we come up against Australia, it does have some sort of shift in the balance of power,” the former Zimbabwe skipper added. “But we do know they have been an incredible side for a long time and we know that when we go to Australia we will have a huge fight on our hands. There are no illusions in our camp about that.”

Meanwhile Flower, while proud England had belied their reputation as a modest one-day team to win the third edition of the World Twenty20, made it clear there was still room for improvement.

“I think there is a long way for us to go,” said Flower, thrust into his post in January last year after a row that cost star batsman Kevin Pietersen the England captaincy and Peter Moores his job as England coach. “This is one form of the game. But if we talk about the England team we talk about all three forms of the game.”

However, he insisted that the Twenty20 win will do wonders for England.

“I think one of the greatest things we will get out of this is growth in our self-belief,” Flower said. “The players should believe in themselves – because they have played some outstanding cricket.”

“I don’t think that could be a veneer thing, self-belief. It’s borne of hard work and the guys have put in the hard work, both the support staff and the players, and now it’s starting to bear fruit. The guys have played a superb brand of the game, very attacking. They’ve showed a lot of intelligence and nous, and adapted very well to different conditions,” he added.

Flower also praised the influence of Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood, leading the side because Test skipper Andrew Strauss has opted out of international cricket’s shortest format.

“He has got a lot more confident about what he is doing,” Flower said. “He feels more comfortable. He has led from the front — I don’t mean his batting but in his attitude. He has always been a bit of a driver of the environment, because he is a nuggety Englishman who will have a go at whatever is thrown at him.”

“Collingwood led the side very well. He brought some of that Twenty20 experience from the IPL, and used that to mould a very effective bowling attack into something that restricted sides, attacked at the right times, defended at the right times and were promptly a step ahead of the opposition in a lot of instances,” he said.

Strauss will be in charge, with Collingwood set to be back in the ranks, when England face Bangladesh in the first Test at Lord’s, which starts on Thursday.

Flower was confident the handover would be a “seamless” transition.

“I think the number one option would be to have one captain for all three forms of the game,” he said. “We haven’t had that opportunity and we have had to make do and make the best of a situation as it is. Luckily, we have got some really good people who have grown as leaders. Strauss certainly has and Alastair Cook handled himself well in Bangladesh (where he captained the side while fellow opener Strauss took a break) and is good back up for Strauss now. Collingwood has grown. Strauss coming back is not a problem. He is highly respected in our dressing room. He is a good man and it will happen seamlessly.”

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