Ponting switched to Shield to prepare for Ashes

AUSTRALIAN skipper Ricky Ponting has been rested from today's dead-rubber one-day international against Sri Lanka to help him prepare for the looming Ashes series.

The hook and pull shots have been the Tasmanian's bread and butter throughout his career but have increasingly been a route to his downfall in the past 12 months.

Instead of travelling to Brisbane for Sunday's third and final ODI at the Gabba, Ponting, who also missed Wednesday night's one-wicket loss at the MCG, will now head to Tasmania to prepare for the Tigers' Sheffield Shield match against Queensland.

'As the series against Sri Lanka has been decided [the selectors have] an ideal opportunity to provide Ricky with two solid weeks of red-ball cricket,'' said selector Greg Chappell. ''This allows him what we believe to be the best preparation to lead the Australian Test match team in Brisbane for the first Ashes Test match.''

''We have to start playing the brand of cricket we know we can play and getting the winning feeling back again. We haven't had it for a while.''

Aussies focused on T20 Sunday's KFC Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka

Australian all-rounder Cameron White says his side is fully focused on Sunday's KFC Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka despite the looming Ashes series.

The game has been overshadowed by England's imminent arrival, but the Twenty20 vice-captain said Australia had plenty of time to think about the Ashes after Sri Lanka's tour.

"Any game you get to play for Australia is an important one," he said.

"There's no doubt that this is a pretty young side Twenty20 side and everyone that has been given the opportunity will be really concentrating on playing well in this game."

The Victorian captain also said he was pleased to see five of his interstate team-mates in the side for Sunday's clash.

"We've had good team success with Victoria so for those guys it's a good opportunity for them to really step up at this level," he said.

"Playing Australia is always going to be a tough one for us, but there's a few things that we want to try. With a few of the younger boys here for us we want to give them a go against tougher opposition and see how they come up."

The veteran batsman said his team would look to experiment on the tour as they try to find the right combinations heading into the 2011 World Cup on the sub-continent.