Lee was a revelation - Ponting

Brett Lee produced a pearler to remove Vikram Solanki, underlining his importance to Australia's pace attack

Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes almost every one of his players made positive progress in their final tour match ahead of the first npower Ashes Test.

Brett Lee, Marcus North and Michael Hussey all rediscovered their form with either bat or ball in the tourists' four-day warm-up game against England Lions in Worcester.

Ponting said: “We got a lot out of this game - almost everyone except me - and it was really good preparation for us going into the Cardiff game.

“This wicket will be similar to the one we have to confront down there, so we couldn't have asked for much more as far as our preparation goes.

“Brett Lee really stood up for us in the first innings. Once the ball started to swing, we know he is as good as anyone in the world in terms of exploiting those conditions.

“Marcus North batted well in the second innings, and Mike Hussey looked terrific in both knocks, while Michael Clarke got some quality time in the middle yesterday.

“We have topped things up really well. I've been really happy with the way things have gone for the past month.

“We went out of the (ICC World) Twenty20 really early and have had a long run-in to the first Test. It seems like an eternity, but our training has been spot-on.

“We can travel down to Cardiff happy with what we have done and the intensity automatically steps up when you play Test cricket.”

Ponting, however, is aware that opener Phillip Hughes will have to come to terms with the short delivery after twice falling to Steve Harmison.

He said: “He will now have a good idea what to expect for the remainder of the tour. Phillip got out in a similar way in both innings, so he will have some work to do.”

Lions captain Ian Bell believed the tour match represented a worthy workout for England hopefuls and county players alike.

“It was a very good workout for our young players, and the opening batsmen (Stephen Moore and Joe Denly) played fantastically well considering the amount of experience Australia have got.

“I thought we did ourselves justice and gave Australia a run for their money at times over the last four days.”