Ricky Ponting Looking Forward to Facing Steve Harmison in Warm-up

Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, has welcomed the prospect of facing a fired-up Steve Harmison at Worcester next week as the fast bowler attempts to prove the selectors wrong ahead of the first Ashes Test.

Harmison's omission from England's 16-man Ashes training squad, and the England side that will warm up for Cardiff against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, is a clear message that he must put the frighteners up Australia if he is to force his way into contention for the Test series. Harmison has been selected for the England Lions side to play Australia at Worcester starting 1 July.

Ponting, preparing for Australia's opening first-class match against Sussex at Hove, which starts on Wednesday, sounded delighted. "At his best we all now how good a Test fast bowler Harmison can be," he said. "At one stage he was ranked as the best Test fast bowler in the world. It will be good preparation to face guys like Harmison and it will give him a chance to put his name forward.

"Even if they do well it will still be good preparation for us. You want to be facing the best bowlers and the best opposition before you go into a Test series.

"I am not surprised that Steve Harmison and [Michael] Vaughan aren't named with the way that the current England group has been performing of late. I think the squad pretty much picked itself."

Ponting has his own concerns in the fast bowling department. Brett Lee has never had a stand-out Ashes series despite spells of searing pace and his stated aim of "five wickets a Test" would be quite an achievement following lengthy recuperation following an ankle operation early in the year to remove bone fragments from the back of his left ankle.

"Brett has trained harder than I have ever seen him train before in the last couple of weeks, whether it is with his bowling or in the gym," Ponting said. "Anyone who lays eyes on him can see how good a physical shape he is in. He is jumping out of his skin to start bowling again."

Lee might hope to be leading the attack, alongside Mitchell Johnson, but he has no intentions of aping Glenn McGrath by making a traditional "5-0 to Australia" pre-Ashes prediction.

"I don't do that, mate," he said. "I'm not prepared to say it's going to be such-and-such. It's the same as targeting a batsman and asking me to pick out a batsman as a bunny. I just want to let the bowling do the talking. There comes a point in time where you can't physically do what you could do as a youngster but I don't feel I've reached that stage yet."