We have to improve - we have to stop making the mistakes that we do David Graveney

And speaking to BBC Five Live Sport, he said it was time to stop using the team's long injury list as an excuse.

"If we continue to play the way we have been doing this summer, we will not retain the Ashes and we will not win the World Cup," said Graveney.

But Graveney ruled out rushing captain Michael Vaughan back into the side.

Interview: David Graveney

Vaughan is now back in action with Yorkshire after undergoing knee surgery.

He is determined that he will not attempt a return to international cricket until he is fully satisfied with his fitness.

"His value to the England team as a cricketer, as a captain, as a person is immense.

"However, you want to play people in the best possible form and Michael Vaughan is quite right in saying that he wants to return when people look at Michael Vaughan as a cricketer and are not worrying about how his knee is.

"I speak to him on a regular basis and we are not going to ring him every single hour of every single day to say 'How are you?' He knows the level of fitness that is required to be captain of England," said Graveney.

Andrew Flintoff (ankle), Ashley Giles (hip), Simon Jones (knee) are all out of action at present and newcomers Ed Joyce (ankle) and Glen Chapple (abdominal strain) have picked up injuries in the last week.

But Graveney said that could no excuse a performance like the one against Sri Lanka in Saturday's limited overs international at Lord's when the team gave away 42 extras.

"When you bowl 23 wides, you are not going to win a game of cricket... and I'm sure Duncan (Fletcher) and the management team will seek to address that."

Flintoff and Harmison enjoying the action at the World Cup

He also expressed concern about England players talking to the media about issues which "are unrelated to actually playing the game".

It followed the publication of Steve Harmison's Mail on Sunday column in which he defended a trip he and Flintoff made to Germany to watch England play Paraguay in the World Cup.

Graveney said: "Sometimes when things aren't going right, you have to keep your head down and just start playing.

"We have to move on from the events of last summer - we have to look forwards, we have a challenge and the Australians are waiting.

"We have to make sure that when the guys get on a plane to go to Australia, we have the best possible team prepared both physically and mentally, because the Australian nation are deeply hurt by the fact that they lost the Ashes."

Graveney insisted, however, that if England were able to pick something like their first-choice squad, they could compete with Ricky Ponting's side.

"Australia are the number one ranked team in the world - they were at the beginning of the (2005) Ashes, they were at the end of it - but I think their aura has changed.

"If we play at our very best - and it will be very difficult - we can certainly retain the Ashes," he added.