Australia look to improve 'away' record

Australia captain Ricky Ponting challenged the game's top-ranked side to play more aggressively on tour before they set off for Sri Lanka on Friday.

"I want the team to be able to win more away from home," Ponting told a news conference before the one-day squad headed for Colombo.

"I want us to play the same brand of cricket overseas as we do here in Australia. If we do that, we are going to give ourselves a very good chance of winning a lot more games.

"That's the challenge that lies ahead of us now. We've got a lot of cricket coming up on the sub-continent."

The series of five one-dayers against Sri Lanka starts on February 20, followed by three Tests.

Australia lost their most recent test series in Sri Lanka 1-0 in 1999-2000. They were also beaten 2-1 in a Test series in India three years ago, and will tour there in October.

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For Ponting, the Sri Lanka challenge will be his first Test series as skipper. The 29-year-old Tasmanian blasted 1,503 Test runs at a Don Bradman-like average of 100.20 in 2003.

"I've got a better understanding now of how the team best operates," the World Cup-winning captain said.

"It's worked out extremely well that I've had the chance to captain the one-day side (for two years)

before the Test team.

"We're playing really good one-day cricket at the moment so we're pretty excited about our prospects over there."

Sri Lanka last week named six spinners in their 25-man training squad for the one-day series.

Australia are likely to recall leg spinner Shane Warne following his 12-month doping ban when they name their Test squad on February 20.

Warne took five wickets this week for Victoria in a second XI match against Queensland and will also play for his state side against Tasmania in a four-day game starting on Monday.

"It's in Shane's hands now and I'm sure the selectors will be keeping a very close eye on things over the next few days," Ponting said.

Ponting's world champions crushed India 2-0 in the one-day finals series in Melbourne and Sydney last week.

Australia easily beat Sri Lanka twice in last year's World Cup but Ponting remains wary of the home side's main weapon, off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

"I don't think you will ever hit him out of the attack but you can certainly put him under a bit more pressure," he said.

"We'll have a good look at him in the one-dayers. He's hard work wherever you play him and he's going to be even harder in Sri Lanka."