Australia still have the desire

13 December 2006

Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey were vital components of Australia's win © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting has warned Australia he will not accept a drop in their high standards even if they do wrap up the Ashes series with victory at the WACA.

Victories in Brisbane and Adelaide have put Australia within one win of reclaiming the Ashes they lost only 14 months ago to firmly re-establish their long-standing dominance over England.

But even if they repeat their feat of four years ago, when an innings victory sealed the series in just 11 days of cricket, captain Ponting will not accept a relaxation in their preparation or determination.

“If we do win here then all well and good and the series will be gone, but I don’t think any of us will be happy with that,” claimed Ponting.

“We’re not just going to be happy with winning three Tests with two still to go. Over the years we’ve seen that happen in the past when we’ve been in front and dropped one or two games late, but I think there’s enough hunger around the team at the moment to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Four years ago Australia lost in Sydney after winning the series while in 2001 they were beaten at Headingley with another 5-0 whitewash in their sights.

This time around, however, Ponting is determined not to let up after experiencing 14 long months of hurt and finger-pointing as the first Australian captain to lose an Ashes series since 1986-7.

“We’re not going to take anything for granted, we can’t afford to,” claimed Ponting.

“It’s about getting out there and starting the game well and playing the best Test cricket we can.

“We don’t want to over-complicate things. We need to keep things pretty simple because a few things are going well for us at the moment and enjoy the challenge ahead of us.”

Coach and captain have made sure the squad are aware of the threats © Getty Images

As part of that process Ponting and coach John Buchanan have talked to the squad over the last few days to remind them of the dangers of allowing England back into the series.

Ponting said: “Both the coach and I have spoken to the players about how ready we were in Brisbane and the feel and the build-up before that.

“I don’t think we quite got back to that same sort of intensity or feeling before Adelaide, which is expected after a short turn-around after a hard game and not having the 14 months to think about it like we did before Brisbane.

“What I expect now is that we do get ourselves a bit closer to where we were before Brisbane.

“We know we’ve played some good cricket, but we know England are capable of playing some good cricket as well as they did for the majority of that game in Adelaide.

“They started that game off well and we have to expect they’re going to be able to do that again here. This becomes like the first session in Brisbane and it’s important you win that session.”

Ponting illustrates the determination to continue their winning streak more than any other player. Despite scoring 196 in Brisbane and 142 in Adelaide, he was furious with himself on both occasions for getting out.

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He explained: “If I’d have got four more runs in Brisbane I wouldn’t have been cross - it’s not something that happens every day in Test cricket to score 200 so that’s why I was disappointed there.

“When I got out in Adelaide it was a really big time in the game with the second new ball and we’d just got the game going back in our favour and if we’d got through that new ball that night we might have got a good lead.

“I don’t think you’re ever happy when you get out. It doesn’t matter how many games you play, it doesn’t make getting out any easier. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a trial game or a club game or whatever you’re playing.”

He added: “I guess I’ve just been fortunate to score a lot of runs in these first couple of games - last time around we only had a couple of guys who played anything near to their best.

“Warney was outstanding and Brett (Lee) was good at different times and Justin (Langer) was our leading batter and the rest of us were a little bit disappointing.

“We want to have a good, even contribution from all of our players during this series and make sure when we do leave the field after the first day or the fifth day we’ve got nothing left to give and I think that’s what we’ve done in the first two games.”