Ponting sounds Ashes warning

Ricky Ponting is determined not to be remembered as the Australian captain who lost the Ashes, and is fully confident the urn will be heading back Down Under when the 2006-07 contest begins in ten months' time.

Speaking to Cricinfo after a day spent on board the ABN AMRO ONE yacht in Port Phillip Harbour, Melbourne, Ponting warned that Australia were fit and hungry for further success, as they draw to the end of a home summer that has been adorned with victories over the World XI, West Indies and South Africa.

"Obviously we're extremely keen to play well in the next Ashes series," said Ponting, "and if we play a better brand of cricket than last time, I'm sure it'll be a different result. We've got enough really good quality players coming through in both batting and bowling fronts, and the guys who've come in [since the Ashes] have really stepped up."

Ponting praised the likes of Mike Hussey, whose first season of Test cricket he described as "awesome", but warned England that they would be pitted against some familiar faces when battle is rejoined at Brisbane on November 23.

"Don't forget the old boys are still in the reckoning for a little bit longer yet," he said. "[Glenn] McGrath and [Shane] Warne are still bowling really well and I'm sure they'll be good for another series yet. But if things don't go well for them, we know we've got adequate replacements in the pipeline."

Looking back on the 2005 series, where Australia were edged out 2-1 in a classic confrontation, Ponting insisted: "There's not too much that'd do differently - obviously I'd have liked to change a couple of results, or just add a couple of runs to our total at Edgbaston! But otherwise there's not too much I'd have done differently. All in all, 2005 was a pretty good year for us. We played 15 Test matches and lost two, so it wasn't all bad."

Click here for the full transcript of the interview.