Ponting says the players are hungry

London: Australian cricketers are hungry for some action and ravenous to get stuck into New Zealand?s one-day team at The Oval, captain Ricky Ponting said on Wednesday.

The Trans-Tasman rivals meet in a Champions Trophy clash at The Oval on Thursday to decide which side progresses to the semi-finals from group A.

European rain and damp conditions have denied the Australians much match practice leading into the tournament ? a tour of The Netherlands was affected and a match against Hampshire washed out ? but Ponting insisted his side was ready for the first serious test of the tournament.

?Everybody is ready, everybody is raring to go,? Ponting said at the team?s base in central London. ?They should be as well, because even though we have been denied match play, we have trained really hard. We are very well prepared and the games we have managed to play, our skills have looked very sharp.?

Ponting bemoaned his side?s bad luck with the weather so far.

?The rain followed us around,? he smiled. ?We had a game against Hampshire which was washed out last week. Our trip to Holland, we had one-and-a-half games instead of three. But the guys have stayed very fresh and focussed during this period.?

Australia were prevented from training at The Oval on Wednesday due to ?old wickets? and instead headed off to a club ground in north London for last-minute preparations.

?The training facilities at The Oval weren?t good enough for us to use for some reason which was a shame.? Ponting said.

?The wickets are pretty old, I think. I don?t know what the reason for that is... maybe the weather. But it is pretty disappointing that we were unable to train there.?

While brimming with confidence, Ponting knows New Zealand will be no pushover.

?New Zealand are a good side,? Ponting said. ?We understand and respect that fact. You know, they?ve won a few one-day games lately and, as they say themselves, they lift their game when they play us.?

TEAMS

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Michael Kasprowicz, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Ian Butler, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Hamish Marshall, Brendan McCullum, Craig McMillan, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori.