Mike Atherton is confident England will not repeat the mistakes they made after the Ashes triumph of 2005.

Writing in a webchat with Times Online readers today, the Chief Cricket Correspondent of The Times said the team that regained the urn with victory over Australia on Sunday will use the success as a springboard for further glory.

However, he added that the current squad is not strong as that of four years ago, which went on to give up the Ashes in a 5-0 series defeat Down Under in the winter of 2006/07.

"England have learnt their lesson," Atherton wrote. "They will try to use this series as a stepping stone for something special. The trouble is I don't think they have quite got the personnel they had in 2005."

In a wide-ranging discussion, Atherton suggested how England should adjust their team for the tour of South Africa in the winter, named his best England XI using players from the past 20 years and contributed to the debate comparing Andrew Flintoff with Ian Botham.

"If you examine Freddie's number of days played then they don't compare to Beefy's," he wrote. "Nor do the numbers of overs bowled. But I accept that today's cricket is more demanding and mentally draining." On Flintoff, he added: "He has been an inspirational player at times, and a great player on occasions, but... "

Atherton said that he expects England to promote Kevin Pietersen to No 3 on the batting card, argued that Ian Bell would make a better opening batsman than Alastair Cook and suggested that Paul Collingwood's Test career could be in jeopardy.

"I suspect Pietersen will move up in the end, allowing [Jonathan] Trott, [Ian] Bell, [Ravi] Bopara to move down the order," he wrote. "Although I am not sure that Pietersen will want to go in at No 3 against South Africa."

His best England XI using players from the past two decades comprised Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Robin Smith, Kevin Pietersen, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Graeme Swann and James Anderson or Andrew Caddick.