We're better prepared than the England, says Ponting.

AUSTRALIAN captain Ricky Ponting reckons his men are going to be better prepared for the first Ashes Test than England thanks to their premature exit from the World Twenty20. The skipper scoffed at suggestions his side had shown signs of being underdone by being bundled out in the opening round of the Twenty20 competition a fortnight ago. He said the early departure had allowed his side precious time to hone their skills for the longer form of the game in English conditions before the opening Ashes clash in Cardiff starting July 8. "How could we be undercooked?'' Ponting said. "We have just had more preparation than we were ever going to have. "I am not sure where the undercooked part comes from. "If you look at what we have done I guess we are going to be better prepared than the England side, so I have no problems with our preparation at the moment. "I mean going out of the Twenty20 when we did, although disappointing as it was, if there was a positive for us it meant that we got an extra couple of weeks to turn our eyes and attention to getting right for the first Test match.'' England spent an extra week playing in the World Twenty20 before missing out on reaching the semi-finals of the tournament on home soil. Andrew Strauss's men play Warwickshire in a three-day warm-up match at Edgbaston starting on July 1. Australia's four-day tour match against Sussex at the County Ground in Hove starts at 2000 AEST on Wednesday. The tourists will also fine-tune their game in a four-day tour match in Worcester next week.