Michael Vaughan at practice in Mumbai on Friday. (AFP)

Mumbai: Allrounder Andrew Flintoff said he is better equipped to handle the home spin attack after suffering a disappointing tour the last time England visited India.

An inexperienced Flintoff was in the 2001-02 touring party and scored just 26 runs from five innings and generally struggled against the threat of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

“I’ll be keen to score a few more runs than I did last time. Twenty-five won’t be too hard to beat,” he told reporters after Friday’s practice session.

“I had just got back into the England side. Came out here and I thought I progressed as a bowler, but the batting didn’t quite go according to plan,” the 28-year-old said.

“I feel I know my game more now, have played a lot more cricket against various spin bowlers, quick bowlers and medium pacers and I think I’ve progressed since then,” he said.

Meanwhile, Test opener Wasim Jaffer and young fast bowlers Abid Nabi and Munish Ansari will face England in their opening three-day tour match against the CCI President’s XI, led by Nilesh Kulkarni, at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.

It has been agreed that all 16 members of the touring party will get to play at some point in the match.

THE SQUADS

CCI: Nilesh Kulkarni (captain), Robin Uthappa, Vinit Indulkar, Sahil Kukreja, Amol Muzumdar, Hrishikesh Shende, Wilkin Mota, Aniket Redkar, Rajesh Varma, Kshemal Waingankar, Hiken Shah, Vinayak Samant, Hitshu Bachani, Abid Nabi, Munish Ansari, Swapnil Hazare.

England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen Geraint Jones, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Shaun Udal, Monty Panesar And Ian Blackwell.