BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa,  (Reuters) – England must  improve their consistency to have a realistic chance of beating  South Africa in their five match one-day international (ODI)  series, all-rounder Luke Wright said.

“I think consistency has been the problem with our one-day  cricket for a while now. We have the ability to beat anyone on  any given day but we have not always backed that up,” Wright  told reporters in Bloemfontein yesterday.

“It’s something that (coach) Andy Flower and (captain)  Andrew Strauss have spoken about and addressed, in the way we  prepare, to try and get the consistency right. Hopefully this  squad can start to do that.”

England lost six out of seven one-day internationals to  Australia following the Ashes test series but Wright said  England could take heart from their performances in the  Champions Trophy in South Africa during September and October.

England beat Sri Lanka and then South Africa in the group  stage to knock the hosts out of the tournament, before losing  their semi-final against eventual champions Australia.

“The challenge of playing South Africa is certainly up  there. They are a good team and they have showed that over a  long period now,” Wright said.

“They haven’t got too many weaknesses but as we showed  during the Champ-ions Trophy, if we play to our strengths, then  we can compete with them. As a team there were a lot of positive  things we could take away from the tournament but there is still  a lot of work for us to do.”

Wright said the unity in the England squad was one of the  touring side’s major strengths.

“We are a very close unit as a team and everyone is working  very hard. If we prepare right I am sure we have got a fantastic  chance of doing well in the series.”