Australia captain Ricky Ponting insists memories of the 2005 Test at Edgbaston will play no part in this week's Ashes clash.
Just three survivors from four years ago
Australia captain Ricky Ponting insists memories of the 2005 Test at Edgbaston will play no part in this week's Ashes clash.
The Australians return to the ground where they lost the second Test four years ago by two runs - a game rated by many as the best Test ever played.
That result proved critical in England regaining the Ashes for the first time in 18 years, but Ponting - who played in that game - even has fond memories of his last Test in Birmingham.
"At the end of the day I don't think we were that disappointed as a side coming away from here last time," he said. "It was a great Test match.
"Probably for the majority of the game we weren't at our best but we almost pulled off what would have been one of the greatest Test wins ever. So if anything I think we have got some fond memories of 2005 here just because it was such a great game of cricket."
Of the Australian team set to take the field at Edgbaston on Thursday, just Ponting, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich played four years ago.
"There are only a couple of guys in this current group that were around in 2005," Ponting added. "As I have said right from the start, that is about 50 Test matches ago for most of us, so those memories from back that far are not anything we have spoken about or focused on.
"It is about righting the wrongs from Lord's and making sure you see a better Australian performance this week than you saw in the last Test match."
Weakened
England will be without their best batsman for the rest of the series after Kevin Pietersen underwent Achilles surgery and Ponting thinks that may have some effect on the hosts. Ian Bell will replace Pietersen in the middle order.
Ponting said: "Bell is a good player and he has shown that through his career to date. He hasn't played as well as he would have liked against Australia so we do feel that their batting is slightly weakened with Pietersen not being in their line-up.
"But that is irrelevant now. We have known for a week that Kevin wasn't going to be around and we have had a chance to get our plans right for the guys that are playing, so it is about execution now. We know what we need to do and hopefully we can do that for long periods of time in this game."
