Warriors skipper Marcus North this morning spoke of his excitement at heading to England for the Ashes - and the chance to escape the constant TV ads for the upcoming series.

North will join up with the Aussie squad this week as they look to move on from their recent World Twenty20 debacle and concentrate on beating England in the five-Test series.

"I'm pretty excited - it's been a strange three weeks being at home watching the old advert on TV about the Ashes," North said.

"I was kind of getting quite excited watching it but I've actually got to pinch myself and realise I'll actually be participating in it.

"It's one of the greatest tours as an Australian cricketer to get on and just really looking forward to getting over there and trying to contribute."

North, who knows English conditions well thanks to five years of county experience, believes Andrew Flintoff will again hold the key to the home side's chances, just as he did in 2005.

Flintoff, returning from the knee surgery which has seen him miss international duty so far this season, impressed with the ball over the weekend in Lancashire's 138-run defeat to Durham but scores of three and a duck will be of concern to England selectors.

But North, briefly a team-mate of Flintoff's at Lancashire four years ago, said he will be a danger to the Australians.

"Flintoff, if fit, is going to be a huge key for them. We've seen that in any series he plays for them he's their go-to man.," he said.

"But we're going over there fresh and in confidence from the tour of South Africa where we played well, where a lot of critics wrote us off.

"We went over there as a young side and performed well. That's given us as a younger group of guys that confidence of playing well for Australia.

North was speaking at Revolution Sports in Shenton Park, where the Warriors squad started pre-season training.

PERTH CLINT THOMAS