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Ponting fires a shot

AFP, Nottingham
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has warned England that playing Andrew Flintoff in the forthcoming Ashes series could be fatal if the all-rounder is not fully fit.
Ponting and his teammates flew into England this week ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament which precedes the Ashes and the combative batsman wasted little time turning up the heat on the old enemy.
While Ponting claims he feels refreshed and ready for battle after four weeks away from the game, England are fretting over the fitness of Flintoff, who has been ruled out of next month's 1\venty20 event as he continues to recover from knee surgery on an injury suffering during his stint in the Indian Premier I-eague
Flintoff was a key figure when England regained the Ashes in 2005 and. although he has rarely reached those heights, he remains a
talismanic figure for Andrew Strauss's team.
Ponting, whose side won back the Ashes in 2007, believes that dependency on Flintoff could force England to throw him in when the latest series starts in July even if he isn't completely ready.
"That's going to be the great decision the England selectors are going to have to make come the First Test," Ponting said at Trent Bridge on Friday.
"Flintoff is obviously very important to their make-up and set-up. Maybe, as we sawin 2007, if he's not 100 percent fit then maybe that sort of impact he can have around the team is not there.
"2005 to 2007 we saw two completely different players and that had a lot to do with the level of fitness that he had under his belt going into each series.
"That's where they're going to have a tough decision to make.
"I don’t know where Pietersen's at the moment, I'm not sure how bad his problem is, but they could face somethingsimilar there as well."
FROM PAGE 17
Flintoff isn't England's only fitness concern ahead of the Ashes.
Former captain Kevin Pietersen is also struggling to shake off an Achilles problem sustained during the IPL
Although Ponting stopped short of condemning Hintoff and Pietersen's decision to play in the IPL he believes he was right to stay away.
"There was obviously great incentive for those guys to go and play with the amount of money they went for and I guess they were always coming back from the IPL early for the Test matches." he said.
"For us it was a great opportunity to step away from cricket for a few weeks and make sure we re in the best shape we could be in.
"For me it was pretty simple, it was about how long our summer was and how much
cricket we played.
"It was a good opportunity for me to have a couple of weeks off cricket and make sure that when I got here for the start of this tournament I was in the best physical and mental shape I could be."
England’s Test side appear to be in good shape heading into the Ashes after a comfortable 2-0 series victory over West Indies, while Australia arrive with a slightly inexperienced team missing retired stars such as Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and /\dam Gilchrist.
However, the lex-el of oppo sition offered by the West Indies was low and Ponting believes England will have to step up their game to have any chance against his men.
"From the England side, they played some very good cricket against die West Indies but the competition and oppo-
sition they’ll be coming up against us is vastly stiffer than what they’ve faced in the last few weeks," he said.
Ponting is keen to put pressure on Strauss, who will be in charge of his first Ashes campaign and he added: "We haven't had the chance to see him against us as a leader and under intense pressure, and hopefully over the next few months we'll get to see that'