Ponting insists Australia will be stronger

Although the first Test on a flat Gabba wicket was drawn, England's superb second innings of 517-1 led to Australia losing favoritism for the Ashes and calls from critics for wholesale changes to the national team for the second Test starting here tomorrow.

Australia had a potentially match-winning 221-run first-innings lead after bowling England out for 260 -- including a rare hat-trick from Peter Siddle -- and scoring 481 in reply, but failed to capitalise against resilient batting as Alastair Cook posted an unbeaten double century in the first Test. Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott also scored hundreds.
This is only the second time Australia has gone into the second Test without a lead since England's last series win here in 1986-87.

The other occasion in 1998-99 was due to thunderstorms saving England from defeat in Brisbane.

Ponting insists any talk of a psychological victory for England is overstating the case but concedes more players have to perform at their maximum level if Australia is to win the second Test.

"If you want to take a look at the cold, hard figures of the game, they're in exactly the same boat as us," Ponting told The Australian newspaper. "If anything, I think our bowlers learnt a bit about how hard it is to take wickets on flat decks.
"Winning Test matches is never about one, two, three or four outstanding performances. We need nine or 10 or the 11 making an impact in Adelaide if we're going to win the Test."
Johnson, Australia's strike paceman in recent seasons, was dropped today, leaving Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger vying for his place. Johnson's return was 0-170 in Brisbane.

"The bottom line is we've got to find 20 wickets in the game and we've got to pick bowlers who we think are best equipped ... to get the job done this week," Ponting said.

Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke insists he is fit to play and credits England's bowling rather than his back injury for his uncomfortable 50-ball innings at Brisbane which yielded just nine runs.