LONDON - Australian captain Ricky Ponting has asked his inexperienced squad to create its own Ashes legend following the upheaval of several retirements and injuries to senior men, including Brett Lee.

Ponting’s Australians have been preparing for the Ashes series for the last six months, during which they have rebuilt their team after seasoned players -Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Damien Martin and Glenn McGrath- retired from international cricket.

The Aussies have also been preparing in England for the past one-month, but now on the eve of the series the team has been rocked by the news of injury to Brett Lee, who has strained a side abdominal muscle.

Only three players from the 2005 series, including Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich, are part of the current team. So, Ponting encouraged new players to assert their own identity, asking them to continue with the progress made during the Test series in South Africa, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“We spoke a lot about that in South Africa and a lot of guys went a long way to doing that in South Africa but, as you know, reputations and legends are generally made out of these bigger series and there is no bigger series than an Ashes to do that,” said Ponting.

“We have a couple of guys each day at training telling us what an Ashes series means to them and what it means to be a part of an Ashes series. Some of the things they have said have made me think they really want to forge their own identity here and even make a big impact on the series,” he added. (ANI)