London, July 3: Australia captain Ricky Ponting heads into the upcoming Ashes series against England looking to erase the one blot on a CV filled with outstanding achievements.

Ponting, one of the most talented batsmen of his and many another generation, has yet to captain his country to Ashes glory in England. He was in charge when Australia lost their first Ashes series in nearly 20 years when England won 2-1 on home soil four years ago.

"I was disappointed to lose the Ashes in 2005 as the entire touring group were," said Ponting. "I’ve been lucky to play in an era of Australian cricket that’s been very dominant.

"One thing I haven’t been able to achieve as captain is to win an Ashes series in England and I’ll make sure that I get that point across to the rest of the guys."

Will he ever. The fact the Tasmanian was in charge when Australia regained the Ashes 5-0 Down Under in 2006/07 won’t lessen his determination to do well now.

His captaincy skills have been repeatedly ‘bagged’ with former Australia fast bowler Jeff Thomson stinging in his criticisms again this week. But Thomson also said Australia had the better line-up and that may yet prove to be true even though they are now without retired stars

Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. The loss of leg-spin great Warne and accurate paceman McGrath, who between them took 49 wickets in the last Ashes series, has made life harder for Ponting in the field, as it would for any captain.

Even so he still led Australia to a Test series win in South Africa after the Proteas had had to perform brilliantly to win the preceding series in Australia.

— AFP