Ponting determined to break Champions Trophy jinx

For Ivan Lendl, it was Wimbledon; for Boris Becker and Pete Sampras it was the red clay at the French Open; for the current Australian side it's been the Champions Trophy. Ricky Ponting can't zero in on why Australia has failed to capture the mini World Cup, but he insists his side is suitably prepared to tackle this one.

Just like Andrew Flintoff yesterday, Ponting summed up the value of this event by saying thoughts of the Ashes had, for a while at least, been put on the backburner. "It's a very important tournament for us, the second biggest that we play as an ODI team," he said in Delhi. "It's something that's eluded us in the recent years - we've made it to the semi-finals in the last two Champions Trophies - and we're hoping for more this time. We've come here pretty well prepared and there's still time before it starts. We've got a good record in India while playing one-day cricket over the years, hopefully that will come through early on."

In the 12 games they've played in India since the start of the decade, Australia have won nine and lost only three. The last of those games was the final of the TVS Cup in Kolkata, when a second-string Australian side triumphed by 37 runs. This time Ponting will be looking to put out his "best side" from the word go. "We have 14 players here and you'd think that when the first game comes around, we'll have our best XI and maintain that team throughout, injuries permitting."

Question marks hang over Glenn McGrath's fitness and he is someone who Ponting would dare not risk ahead of the Ashes campaign. "Glenn came back really well in Malaysia," Ponting said. "He was never going to come back and be at his absolute best straight away, but I thought he improved game by game in Kuala Lumpur. In the final game he bowled six overs for six runs. Then he went back and played club cricket and got about 26-28 overs under his belt. We're going to monitor his progress through the course of the Champions Trophy, with an eye on the Ashes, and keep him as ready as possible for that."

Australia kick off their campaign on October 18 against one of the qualifiers, but their next two games are the big ones. On October 21 - which also happens to be the festive day of Diwali - they take on England at Jaipur before locking horns with India a week later at Mohali.

Ponting said the England game was a chance to make the early running ahead of the Ashes. "There's still a while before the first Test [at Brisbane on November 23] but certainly it will be our first chance to play them before the Ashes," he said. "We'd like to think we can provide some sort of statement in that game."

The early part of that early message will need to come from the opening batsmen. As the latest Numbers Game column points out, Australia have tried 12 opening pairs since the start of 2005, a figure that places them behind only West Indies and India in the juggling stakes.

"We had a look at [Shane] Watson in Kuala Lumpur," Ponting said. "He was pretty impressive there. [Simon] Katich has done well for close to 18 months or so since he's had the opportunity to open. It's not an area of concern for us. We looked at a few things in Kuala Lumpur and thought of a better way of doing it, and hopefully we can get it right during the practice matches here."