Andrew Flintoff has urged England to savour every remaining moment of their one-day series against India to try and learn the skills necessary to make them a major force at the next World Cup.

England’s 19-runs defeat in Bangalore on Sunday earned India an unassailable 4-0 lead with three matches to spare in the series, leaving the tourists with little but pride to play for in the remaining games.

But Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff believes every moment of the dismal one-day campaign has been useful towards the ultimate aim of returning to India in 2011 and becoming the first England side to lift the World Cup.

To do so they must overcome the conditions and the experience of playing out here better than they have in the opening four matches of the series with India as one of the four hosts of the next World Cup alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“Some of the lads have not played a great deal in India, played in front of this type of crowds with the attention on cricket you get over here,” he explained.

“The World Cup is over here in a few years time so the more opportunities to play out here and develop your skills on these type of wickets, the more it will be beneficial to this group of lads.”

Without a series at stake, England may use the final three matches – starting today – to look at fringe players like Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright as they attempt to build a line-up capable of challenging for that next World Cup.

But Flintoff believes it would be dangerous to experiment too much, or look ahead to the two-match Test series starting in Ahmedabad on December 11, before they have restored some pride in the remaining three matches.

“The Test matches are upon us quite soon but with the way India play I think it would be dangerous to think about anything other than these one-day matches because we could get found out even more - the way they’ve played, they’ve been ruthless,” he said.