Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has promised England that the upcoming Ashes series will be far tougher than its 2-0 series whitewash of the West Indies.
Having lost 1-0 in the Caribbean earlier this year, England gained revenge for that series defeat in emphatic fashion when it recorded a 10-wicket win in the first Test and an innings victory in the second.
But Ponting, speaking this morning after Australia had named its 16-man tour squad, pointed to the fact that West Indies captain Chris Gayle's commitment to the cause was in question midway through the England series.
Having been forced to cut short his stint in the lucrative Indian Premier League in order to head to England, Gayle admitted before the second Test that he would not shed a tear if Test cricket was eventually abandoned in favour of one-day and Twenty20 competitions.
With that in mind, Ponting was quick to warn the opposition that his team will pose a much bigger threat than the West Indies has recently, particularly having learned lessons from the shock 2-1 series loss in 2005.
"They've obviously done everything very well in these last two Test matches against the West Indies but I can guarantee that they'll be facing a stiffer opposition than the West Indies when we arrive," Ponting said.
"England will be a very stiff and tough opposition, we know that, they always are when we play against them.
"The last series out here in Australia was a 5-0 result to us but it could've been a whole lot different had we not done some exceptional things.
"With 2005 we got off to a great start in that series and then things just slipped away from us from there. A lot of us have been there, learnt from our mistakes from last time and we're keen to obviously rectify that.
"There's one thing on my cricketing resume that hasn't been achieved yet and that's being captain of a winning Ashes series in England. That's something very dear to my heart."
Having described the squad as "a very good blend of youth and experience", Ponting does not believe the fact that the squad contains several rookies including Phillip Hughes, Marcus North, Peter Siddle and Andrew McDonald will hinder Australia's chances.
One of only six members of the squad, along with Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Simon Katich, Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark, to have toured England previously, with Haddin and Clark not playing in 2005, Ponting is confident the youngsters can stand up.
"I don't really think that's a great hurdle for us at all," Ponting added.
"Going to South Africa we went there with a less experienced team because we've got an extra three Test matches into some of these guys now.
"You don't face many tougher tasks than playing South Africa over there and our guys came through particularly well so that really excites me about what we've got coming up on this Ashes tour.
"Inexperience, it can be something you want to steer away from but as I said we've got a great balance of youth and experience so hopefully when the big moments come around it will be all of us who stick up our hands and get the job done over there."
With no Shane Warne in the squad for an Ashes series for the first time since the 1990/91 series, Ponting is nonetheless confident that there are enough options among the squad to get the job done with the ball.
"If you look down our actual top-six batters we've got some guys there as well that can offer some really useful part-time spin options," he said.
"Whenever you're picking a team you're looking for some flexibility, you're looking at guys being able to play different roles at different times for you through the course of a game.
"There's no doubt through the last South African series it was a lot of those guys, all-rounder types, that really did a good job for us.
"With Shane (Watson) in the squad as well, someone that can bowl 140-plus kilometres an hour and bat anywhere in the top six, it gives us great flexibility in our squad."
Watson has pipped Andrew Symonds to a place in Australia's 16-man squad, which includes other former Hampshire players in vice-captain Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Stuart Clark - and Marcus North.
Australia's Ashes squad: Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke (vc), Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Graham Manou, Andrew McDonald, Marcus North, Peter Siddle, Shane Watson.
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