Australia aiming for Ashes clean sweep - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Australia aiming for Ashes clean sweep

19/12/2006 06:13:18 AM Comments (0)

Australia is determined to capitalise on the return of the Ashes by sweeping the series 5-0.

Captain Ricky Ponting has made it clear he will not relax until Australia has avenged its defeat in England last year by winning the final Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

"We want to win every game that we play," Ponting said.

"You want to do the best you can whenever you've got the baggy green cap on. That's what I'll be saying to the rest of the guys leading up to the Boxing Day Test."

Ponting said the team review after the loss of the Ashes last year had produced a new intensity in the Australian team.

"We've set a new standard for ourselves now as individual players and as a team on the way to prepare and the way to play, and it's up to all the players to make sure we keep toeing that line."

Boxing Day is guaranteed to be a huge occasion with home town hero Shane Warne needing only one wicket to become the first man in history to take 700 in Tests.

"What an amazing, remarkable milestone that will be," Ponting said.

"Shane couldn't even have scripted the whole thing any better. It couldn't have worked out any better for him.

"The crowd down there is going to be huge."

England captain Andrew Flintoff said his team was hurting but would be lifted by their own pride before the final two Tests.

England has not won a game on tour but is determined to show that it can still compete with Australia.

"It is going to be a tough couple of days ... but there is a lot of lads that want to prove that we can win a Test match in Australia, prove that we can play," he said.

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