Ponting happy to take a breather

Ricky Ponting is delighted at the prospect of a break from topflight competition after five gruelling Ashes Tests.

Australian skipper Ponting will not only miss both Twenty20 Internationals against England but also an ODI against Scotland and the start of the seven-ODI series against Andrew Strauss' men too, as selectors plan to bring him home for a rest after the final Ashes Test.

"Cricket Australia has been terrific in recent years at finding a game for me to have off here and there with the bigger series in mind," Ponting wrote in The Australian.

"Rest is really important for all the senior players during such a long and hectic schedule, with no break in our program until April next year. That means almost a year on the road for some of us.

"I'm grateful for a couple of Twenty20 and one-day matches off after the Test series."

Meanwhile, Australia opener Simon Katich claims all the pressure is on England going into the final Ashes Test at The Oval next week.

The Aussies comprehensively won the fourth Test at Headingley to tie the series at 1-1, and England must therefore win the fifth to regain the Ashes.

England will on Sunday pick their squad for The Oval, with Jonathan Trott already pencilled in by many as a surefire replacement for Ravi Bopara - one of three middle-order batsmen who could muster only 16 runs between them in the hosts' innings defeat at Leeds.

Katich is convinced those circumstances mean it is England who have everything to prove.

"It's nice at this point in time to be going 1-1 into the final Test, given that we have won the last Test and played so convincingly," he said.

"Now the pressure is on them to pick a team first and see how they respond."

It was Australia who needed to win at The Oval in the famous 2005 series, when a draw clinched the Ashes for England.

"I think the difference (between 2005) is that we were going in under different circumstances," added Katich.

"Last time we were sort of scrounging our way through the series fighting to stay in games - and I know in the third Test we hung on for a draw, the fourth Test we lost, so the momentum was well and truly with England.

"This time round we've managed to get it back late at Edgbaston and now winning so well at Headingley.

"But that means nothing. It all depends how we start day one, so that's going to be the key now, making sure we go out there and start well.

"We saw at Lord's, we didn't start well there and we paid the price."