As Ricky Ponting and the bulk of his unfamiliar Ashes squad touched down on English soil Stuart Broad said he and his England team-mates are not yet studying their opponents as they focus firmly on the World Twenty20.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said next month''s Twenty20 championship would have little or no impact on the hotly debated bowling line-up for the first Test against England.

AUSTRALIA has requested assistance from England officials to help solve its biggest selection dilemma leading into the 2009 Ashes.

I had just taken three wickets in my sixth over of Test cricket," Graham Onions says with a ­helpless grin, looking tempted to hug himself in delight at the memory of his England debut against West Indies this month at Lord's.

Before this week the correct approach to the summer's Ashes series has been to say that you're just not letting yourself think about it. It's not on your mind at all.

WINNING the Ashes will be as easy as 1-2-3, according to Matthew Hayden, the former Australia opening batsman, who sees the battle between his heirs and the England opening trio as crucial to the destiny of the series.

KEVIN Pietersen has been ruled out of the whole of England's one-day series against the West Indies with an Achilles injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced overnight.

ENGLAND is confidently predicting the demise of Australia's left-handed batsmen at the hands of their swing bowlers, but Mitchell Johnson understands the intricate principles of swings and roundabouts and reckons England's batsmen might have a similar problem.

Australia's Ashes squad: Ricky Ponting (Captain) Age 34 (Tasmania). Right-handed batsman. 131 Tests. 10,960 runs. Average 56.21. Highest score 257. 37x100s. 46x50s. 148 catches. Won 38 of 56 Tests as captain with nine losses.

ANDREW Symonds has been left out of the Ashes squad and his international Test career appears to be over. Selectors chose all-rounders Shane Watson, subject to fitness, and Victorian Andrew McDonald over the controversial Symonds in the 16-man squad announced this morning.