John Crawley flies out to Australia for his third Ashes tour tomorrow insisting: "We can bring back the Ashes."

Crawley, 30, has twice been on the receiving end of Ashes drubbings Down Under, having toured Australia in 1994/95 and 1998/99.

But this time he is hoping to make it third time lucky, while pitting his wits against Shane Warne, his new Hampshire captain, as England bid for their first Ashes series triumph since 1987.

Crawley said: "This is the biggest tour of all but we have to believe that we can win back the Ashes - there's no point in going otherwise.

"I'm looking forward to meeting up with Shane; it's brilliant that he's coming to Hampshire as captain.

"I know him reasonably well from playing against him and, from what I've heard, he's an inspirational leader. But the first priority is to make sure we win.

"He and Glenn McGrath hold their bowling together so it's important we all play well against them."

Crawley won back his England place within a couple of months of beginning his first season with Hampshire. "Everything has gone brilliantly for me," he said.

The England squad fly to Perth from Heathrow at midday tomorrow and their first warm up match will be played against the Australian Cricket Board Chairman's XI at Lilac Hill on October 22.

The first Test begins in Brisbane on November 7 while the fifth and final Test in Sydney is scheduled for January 2.

Read the full interview with John Crawley in Saturday's Daily Echo.