PTI
 
Sydney, May 2: Injuries and a lack of depth may result in England surrendering the Ashes which they won after a gap of 18 years last summer, former Australian captain Steve Waugh has predicted.

"Australia has the edge for the Ashes. They're playing in Australia, they're fairly confident and have been preparing for quite a while now," Waugh said about the much anticipated series Down Under later this year.

"And, if you're the best in the world and you lose, you want to win and get back to where you were." He said that England were plagued by injuries and lacked depth in their ranks unlike the Australians.

"England's strength in depth isn't as deep as Australia's and you need good back-up. (England captain Michael) Vaughan still has serious doubts about his knee and getting it right is crucial," the Aussie legend was quoted as saying in London by 'Herald Sun'.

Waugh was in the British capital for promoting his autobiography 'Out of My Comfort Zone'.

He said England could not carry forward the momentum of their Ashes triumph in the subcontinent where it lost the Test series 2-0 to Pakistan and drew 1-1 with India.

"Pakistan was a let-down for England and the problem was they weren't over what happened against Australia last year. The players' profiles increased and, with the euphoria that went with success, they found it difficult." waugh also cast doubts over the feasibility of appointing Andrew Flintoff as a permanent skipper.

"Andrew Flintoff did very well as stand-in captain, but I don't know whether it's a long-term option as it would be too great a workload for him."