Upbeat Ponting ready for England

Ashes tour fixtures

Ricky Ponting says Australia may not be clear favourites for the Ashes but is still confident they will beat England.

Ponting's side landed in England on Sunday and play a Professional Cricketers Association XI on Thursday.

"We have gone into every series that we have played pretty much over the last 10 years as favourites and have been expecting to win," said the skipper.

"That might not be the same this time, but that's nothing we think about - we are just here to play the best we can."

The tourists will play the one-day NatWest Series against England and Bangladesh, and then three more one-day games against England before the first Ashes Test begins on 21 July.

There are always those expectations no matter who you are playing John Buchanan

They have not conceded the famous urn since taking it in England in 1989.

But their job may be tougher this time against a side now ranked number two in the world.

"It's a nice thing to have behind us and there will be less pressure on us going into this series with those stats behind us," said Ponting.

"But one of the strengths of this team is that we don't ever try and think about what has happened in the past.

"We try and stay in the present as much as we can and prepare ourselves as well as we can for every game that we play - this series will be no different to that."

John Buchanan insisted his men will focus on the challenges ahead rather than the impressive unbeaten run over England which stretches to eight successive series.

"This particular Australian team are always faced with a lot of expectations," he said.

"A number of them are world-class players and will go down as greats of the game so there are always those expectations no matter who you are playing.

"One of the great things about the team is that they don't look at those expectations and try to ensure they provide their best chance of performing at the level they would expect themselves."

The one-day squad were heading to the battlefields of France on Monday to pay their respects to the 46,000 Australian and allied servicemen and women who lost their lives during the First World War.

They are guests of the High Commission in France and will visit the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux and the 2nd Division Memorial at Pozieres.