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| Sunday, 22 December 2002 |
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England still face daunting task in Ashes - Ponting PERTH, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Australia batsman Ricky Ponting believes England's two limited-overs wins over Sri Lanka will not save the tourists from another heavy defeat in the fourth Ashes Test which starts on Thursday. Ponting told reporters on Saturday that, while England's victories in the triangular one-day series will have given them something to celebrate, things will be different when the tests resume. "There is no doubt that, when the test match comes around in a few days, they will be feeling the pressure again," Ponting said. "It has been a fairly ordinary tour for them so far and we'dlike to think, if we play well in the first hour on the first day, that a lot of those bad memories and thoughts will come flooding back." England failed to win any of their first 13 games on tour in Australia and suffered heavy defeats in each of the first three Ashes tests. Although they have not yet beaten any Australian side, they tasted victory for the first time on tour when they triumphed against an understrength Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Tuesday. England then followed that up by crushing the same opponents by 95 runs in Perth on Friday. But Ponting, who captained Australia's one-day side to two comfortable victories over England in the triangular series, said the wins over Sri Lanka would have no bearing on the Ashes because most of the test players were not involved. "They are winning games with the majority of guys who won't be playing in the test matches," he said. "I don't think they will get that much confidence out of these wins, especially for the test matches." |
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