Flintoff says England want to create history

PERTH, Dec 13 (Reuters) England captain Andrew Flintoff says the tourists have not given up hope of retaining the Ashes despite facing the prospect of rewriting the record books to beat Australia.

England need to win or at least draw the third test starting at the WACA tomorrow to have any hope of retaining the Ashes after losing the first two matches of the five-game series.

England have never come back from 2-0 down to win the Ashes but Flintoff said his team were desperate to create history.

''This side has created a lot of history in a lot of countries in the last few years and to come back into this series now would be the ultimate,'' he told reporters after training at the WACA on Wednesday.

''There's a huge incentive and we want to give a good account of themselves. I don't think we need any more motivation than playing an Ashes series in Australia.

''For all of us now, it's probably the biggest test match of our careers so we don't need any more motivation, everyone's up for it in the dressing room.'' England were beaten by 277 runs in the first test in Brisbane then lost the second match in Adelaide by six wickets after a batting collapse on the final day when the match seemed to be heading to a draw.

''After the loss in Adelaide everyone was a bit flat which you'd expect after a defeat like that but the team has been great throughout,'' Flintoff said.

''It's a side full of character and the characters have got to come out in this test. We're a very close unit as a side and we'll stay that way for the remainder of the trip.

''We're very proud of what we've achieved as a team in the past three or four years and we want to carry on doing that.

''We're very much aware that it would be creating history if we came back into this series and it's something we desperately want to do.'' REUTERS SAM DS1320