Beaten Ponting wants Oz players to focus quickly on Ashes series

SYDNEY - Australia’s skipper Ricky Ponting, who lost his last Test before the Ashes series, has said that the team has to move quickly to prepare themselves to face England at the Gabba.

Captain Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson have all been rested from the ODI series, while Test match specialists Simon Katich, Peter George and Marcus North are also on their way home.

They will have an opportunity to rest and also re-adjust to Australian conditions before start of the Ashes series.

Ponting said his men had to re-train their sights quickly on the home summer, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“We played very, very well for the majority of the first Test. We played pretty well for the majority of this Test match. India deserve to have won both the games but I think, even if you ask them, they’d be a bit flattered by that end result,” said Ponting after a seven-wicket loss in the second Test.

“There have been some positives, some negatives, but we’ve got to move on pretty quickly now. Our next Test is at the Gabba against England at the start of the Ashes series and we have to make sure we play five good, long, tough days of Test match cricket then,” he added.

The one-day series will provide a challenge for vice-captain Michael Clarke, who made only 35 runs from four completed innings in the Test series.

The three-match series will be held at Kochi (October 17), Vizag (October 20) and Margao, Goa (October 24). (ANI)