Captain Ricky Ponting said on Thursday he is confident Australia can bounce back against the World XI next month, dismissing the loss of the Ashes as "a hiccup". The Australians simply needed to recover their winning "habits", he told Channel Nine.
Ponting, who faced strong criticism of his captaincy over the loss of the Ashes to England for the first time in 16 years, said the defeat would make him tougher.
"It will toughen me up as captain, if that needed to happen," he said. "I am not sure it did. Things had been going along well for a long period of time and this has been a hiccup and something we have got to get over pretty quickly."
Ponting said the Australians needed to bounce back for the ICC Super Series next month, in which they will play three one-day games and a six-day Test against a World XI.
"We got away from those habits and those little things along the way that help to win Test matches.
"It's important to get those back again and I am sure if we do you will see us win lots of Test matches."
Ponting said he and the team would be taking a hard look at themselves ahead of the Super Series.
"One of the main reasons why we have been regarded as the number one team in the world is that we are all harsh judges of our own games and how we are going," he said.
"A lot of players would have returned from England, had a good hard look at themselves and (they'll) try to find a way of making themselves better players next time around.
"That's what this last week's relaxation is all about. Find the things we did well and not focus on them too much but look at the things we were deficient in.
"If we can all do that as individual players and the team does that then hopefully it will see us do better in a few weeks' time.
"It's always hard for the captain of a losing team, there is no doubt about it. But we have had a lot of success and a lot of players will have taken this to heart.
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