Pumped up they might be but the Australians will not go into the deciding fifth Ashes Test seeking revenge for the 2005 series defeat against England, insists skipper Ricky Ponting.
"Let's make one thing clear. I am not going into this series-deciding Test at The Oval seeking revenge for 2005. It's never been unfinished business for me," Ponting wrote in his column for 'The Australian'.
"There's been a lot of talk about revenge for losing the Ashes here four years ago, but you can't do that. Once that series is gone, it's gone. You can't change history," he said about the series the Australians lost in 2005.
Ponting said his side would focus on putting up a good performance and not let emotions affect them in the match starting on Thursday at The Oval.
The right-hander said he has been shielding the side's younger players from the media hype surrounding the deciding match to make sure they don't get bogged down by pressure.
"I'm not going to talk to them about how big it is because I think the more you do that the younger blokes can start to tense up a bit," he said.
"I'll make sure I get to the younger guys in particular and stress to them that they only need to focus on what's going to enable them to play well, to ignore all the outside distractions," he added.
