England [Images] are thinking big for the 2005 Ashes. Big does not get much bigger than Andrew Flintoff [Images] and Steve Harmison.

The pair, firm friends, are England's principal match-winners. Without Harmison's strike bowling, England would not have won eight Tests in a row last year, nor 14 of their last 19 matches.

Without Flintoff's all-round skills, the team would not balance. It might also have less heart.

They make an unlikely duo, the one all brashness and bravado, the other far quieter and more cautious, but they go back a long way. Their friendship dates back almost 10 years when both were selected for an England under-19 tour to Pakistan.

Flintoff was already an experienced youth international. Harmison, just 17, had been rushed into the squad after being discovered only months before. It was his first major foray away from his home in the north east of England. He hated it.

Suffering from injury and homesickness, he was allowed home early. He decided cricket was not for him. It took him almost a year to give the sport another go.

Flintoff stood by him then and has done so ever since. Harmison remains as uneasy as ever about leaving Ashington -- a birthplace he shares with such soccer giants as Jackie Milburn and the Charlton brothers -- but he copes.

Early in 2004, still raw and yet to make his mark, he went to the West Indies [Images] and more than coped.

During the first Test at Sabina Park, relying on high pace and disconcerting, Adam's-apple bounce, he took seven wickets for 12 runs to set up a 10-wicket win and has barely looked back.

For a while, until a poor series in South Africa, he was ranked as the best bowler in the world.

His performances in a triangular one-day series against Australia and Bangladesh last month -- the tournament's top wicket-taker with 15 at 15.73 runs apiece -- suggest he is returning to his best form. At Bristol, he took five for 33 against Australia, prompting Australian rival Glenn McGrath to praise him as a "class bowler".

JUNK FOOD

Flintoff, like his friend, took a while to break through to the top level. He could hit the ball from Lancashire to Yorkshire and bowl at a fair lick but his main problems seemed to be a happy-go-lucky nature and an ample taste for junk food and beer.

At one stage he weighed in at 114 kg, heavier than the then-world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis.

Stern words from coach Duncan Fletcher, however, turned his career around. Slimmed down, his back problems began to disappear and he began to meet expectations.

In his first 29 Tests, he had a batting average of 25.72 while his wickets came at 45.55 apiece. Since the start of 2004, in 19 Tests, he has averaged 46.81 with the bat and 23.83 with the ball, statistics which put him in the top bracket of genuine all rounders.

"He's in good form with bat and ball and really trying hard," Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist [Images] said this week. "He's bowled beautifully. He's bowling so accurately. He's on top of his game, there's no doubt about that. He's an integral part of the England team."

Flintoff -- the only English player, according to Ricky Ponting [Images], who might get into his Australian side -- is 1.93 metres tall. Harmison is the same height but with longer arms.

The two are hard to overlook. If England are to challenge for a first Ashes series victory since 1986-87, the pair will have to punch their full height.