England coach Duncan Fletcher said on Sunday he believed Australia were hot favourites to retain the World Cup in southern Africa.

England were beaten 2-0 by Ricky Ponting's side in the best-of-three finals of the triangular one-day series in Australia.

"It's a concern that we didn't win one, but at the end of the day, Australia is a really red-hot team at the moment. They go in as hot-shot favourites for the World Cup," Fletcher told reporters.

"In three out of the last four ODIs, we've given them a good run for their money."

"You can turn it around and say at some stage of the day a win's going to come. Hopefully, it will be at the World Cup where it will be obviously more important."

Fletcher said Australia would not have an easy path in their World Cup defence as several other nations were capable of claiming the title, including host South Africa.

"Australia must be the favourite. But South Africa have proven they are pretty good at it over the last few years," he said.

"They were pretty unsettled about nine months ago, but they've settled down now."

"And you should never forget sides like Pakistan. They are a very dangerous side," he said.