Ponting begins mind games

Ponting was quick to get of the mark and begin the mind games with Andrew Flintoff, saying now was the time to send a message to the England team in preparation for the Ashes which kick off next month.

"Certainly it will be our first chance to play England since the Ashes series and we'd like to think we could make some sort of statement in that game," Ponting said.

He added, however, that there are a lot of differences between one day internationals and Test cricket, not least the type of play.

"I never really draw too many parallels between one-day cricket and Test cricket, mainly because there is still a fair while before the first Test anyway," he said.

"The changeover from one-day players to Test players is quite dramatic [too] so you don't look at that [parallel] too much."

Australian paceman Glenn McGrath, however, was quick to point out how England took comfort from it's semi-final win over Australia in the 2004 Champions Trophy in the lead-up to the 2005 Ashes series.

"I think most definitely whoever wins will take a slight edge," McGrath said. "If you look back at the last Champions Trophy in England, England beat us in the semi-final. Maybe that was an indication of how they were travelling. I think it gave their players a bit more confidence."

McGrath has been fighting his way back to match fitness after a six-month lay-off during which he supported his wife as she successfully battled cancer.

"I bowled 26 overs on the weekend and pulled up pretty fresh so that's a good sign," he said. "I feel I'm probably bowling about 80 per cent at the moment. Come the first game, or definitely by the end [of the Champions Trophy], if I can be up around 95 per cent I'll be really happy."