Paul Collingwood has dismissed Shane Warne's prediction of another Ashes whitewash in 2009 as just a normal verbal duel.

The former England skipper said that England were on song and they could beat anyone.

"It's the normal 'verbals' that seem to go on nowadays. We know where we need to be as a team. We believe we're certainly pulling in the right direction," he said.

"If we can get everybody fit and raring to go and playing well, when the Ashes come around we're going to be a very, very hard team to beat. When we're on song we can beat anybody," he told Sky Sports.

Collingwood had helped England win back the Ashes in 2005 but had to face an embarrassing 5-0 defeat Down Under in the subsequent 2006-07 series.

England, who beat South Africa in the second and final Test and then thrashed them in the one-day series as well, will tour India and the West Indies with a lot of optimism.

"It's just getting that consistency. It was a great end to the season; it gave everybody a buzz," he said.

"It was a big lift there and if you've got the likes of Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff fit and the way they are, we're going to be a very hard team to beat."