LONDON, 28 July 2005 — Andrew Flintoff claims England’s batsmen can handle the challenge of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne despite their crushing opening Ashes defeat by Australia.

“There’s no panic in the England team. We still have good players,” Flintoff told The Sun.

“The rest of the series now is about our mental ability and strength of character as much as our technical skills.

“But the brilliant spirit in the squad has been built up over several years and one poor result has not changed anything.

“There are four Tests to go, that is a lot of cricket to be played over the next six weeks.

“We must come back strongly at Edgbaston next week.” McGrath and Warne picked up 15 wickets at Lord’s and Flintoff said: “There’s no doubt Warne is hard to deal with when you’re batting against him. That goes without saying.

“He’s a fine bowler so it’s up to us to raise our game. We do have plans when facing him - we just don’t walk to the crease without thinking about what we’re going to do.

“But it’s also important to be able to adapt, depending on how much the ball is spinning and things like that. It’s good to have a gameplan but you must be flexible and reactive too.” He added: “McGrath’s opening spell after tea on the first day was a fine piece of bowling. The way he used the slope was superb.

“He got me out, though I think I was a little bit unlucky because the ball kept low.

“Again it is up to us to rise to the challenge and make sure we play better at Edgbaston.

India’s Dhoni Strikes Form

Ahead of Tri-Series

In Karunegala, Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni struck a fine 88 yesterday as India beat a Kurunegala Invitation XI by 93 runs ahead of the tri-series with Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Dhoni, who scored 86 against Sri Lanka A on Monday, struck six fours and two sixes during his 97-ball innings to help his team to 250 in 42.2 overs.

The home side were then bowled out for just 157 in 36.2 overs with left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan bagging three wickets.

Opening the innings with hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag after Venkatsai Laxman’s failure as opener in the previous game, Dhoni showed his utility up the order.

For the Sri Lankan side, Lanka de Silva (51) and Jehan Mubarak (46) were involved in a 90-run stand for the fourth wicket.

India take on a depleted West Indies and hosts Sri Lanka in the tri-series from July 30 to August 9 without regular captain Sourav Ganguly and star batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Ganguly is awaiting a verdict on a disputed six-match ban for his team’s slow over-rate during a one-day home series against Pakistan in April, while Tendulkar is nursing an elbow injury.