We can whitewash England - Ponting said

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has talked up his side's chances of whitewashing England in the Ashes this winter.

England will head Down Under in confident mood having regained the urn last summer, and they appear a stronger unit than the last team to head to Australia in 2006/07. On that occasion, the tourists, looking to build on their 2005 Ashes success, were hammered 5-0 by a team still containing the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

When asked if the new-look Australia could repeat that feat, Ponting replied: "It's absolutely possible. There's no reason why not. It's all in our hands. It's how well we play and how well we take charge of different situations."

He added: "We've learnt from a lot of the mistakes that we've made.

"There's no doubt we made some mistakes in the last Ashes series in England that probably at the end of the day cost us the series.

"We know now that we're a more experienced and probably a better team now than we were then.

"We put that together plus we're playing in our conditions, we hope to win this series and win it well."

We can whitewash England - Ponting said

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Australia keep on winning but have lost that magic touch

Ponting's team are upbeat ahead of Pakistan Test but, with one eye on the Ashes, England can also afford a smile

By Stephen Brenkley

When the old bluffer himself speaks it is time to listen. Shane Warne, who spent an entire career tormenting England by suggesting what he would do to them on behalf of Australia and then doing it, has been talking up their chances in this winter's Ashes series.

If some of his compatriots are tempted to regard this as heresy another interpretation is that Warne was actually underplaying England's ability to retain the most prized trophy in the sport. With Warne it is always difficult to be sure, with or without ball in hand.

"England are coming good and they are doing really well at the moment," said Warne. "Australia are going pretty decent too so I think the Ashes series is going to be a really close contest. But this winter is probably England's best chance to win in Australia in the last 20 years. Certainly in my time it was often the case that when they came over they'd have to play their absolute best and we'd have to play poorly for it to be a close contest. This one coming is their chance to give it a real shake."

Australia keep on winning but have lost that magic touch

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