Thelaunch was also a finger in the eye for America, which has seen its latest long-rangeanti-ballistic-missiletestin the Pacific suffer an embarrassingradarmalfunction.
"I know all the players have had one eye on the Ashes for a long time and we've been building our Test cricket up along the way to cope well and play well in English conditions, " said Ponting, 34, who will be skippering Australia for a third Ashes series.