Fleming, regarded by many critics as the most astute captain in international cricket, said Australia's form in the Champions Trophy tournament in India justifiably installed them as strong favourites for the five-Test series, starting in Brisbane on November 23.

Fleming (78), who is closing in on Australian Allan Border's record (93 times) as most-capped Test skipper, said England would face a sizeable challenge to retain the urn, especially with regular captain Michael Vaughan and swing bowler Simon Jones to miss the series with injuries.

"The fact they're missing a few players is going to be a key factor for me," Fleming was reported saying in Thursday's Australian press from India.

"They were able to hold their team pretty much all the way through that last series in England, and that's massive value.

"If they can get their players back and get them in form, it will even the ledger up.

"But Australia are in the situation now where they've got most of their players to pick from and are looking at how to maintain that fitness over the next few months. If they do that, they will win the Ashes."

Fleming cited the Australian team's willingness to dissect the problems that dogged their Ashes campaign last year and the team "boot camp" in Queensland in August as signs Australia were hell-bent on reversing last year's result.

"Australia have obviously done a lot of thinking about what went wrong in England," Fleming said.

"That's got to make them stronger. They've used some different ways of getting together, going up the mountain (in Queensland) was one, so they are obviously very aware of how important the series is.

"That's always a dangerous thing to have, when an Australian side is smart about an upcoming series."