A revitalised Australia is better-placed now to complete a one-day series whitewash of England than it was in 2007, captain Ricky Ponting said on Friday night.
Ponting, who returns from a post-Ashes sabbatical to lead his team in Saturday's fourth one-dayer at Lord's, said the turnover in the squad since the Test defeat safeguarded against staleness.
Australia's squad for the current series against England contains seven players who did not feature in the ill-fated Ashes campaign.
The visitors hold a three-nil lead in the best-of-seven showdown and are eager to avoid a repeat of 2007 when after dominating England in the Ashes and the early part of the triangular series they lost the penultimate preliminary round match then the two finals.
"I had quite a good look at the reasons why that would have happened that year," Ponting said.
"A lot of it I felt was to do with England had brought in a lot of fresh players into their squad for their one-dayers only, and if you looked at our side through the summer it was very, very similar," Ponting said.
"We found it really hard to maintain that level of play right the way through the summer with a fairly similar group of players."
"You like to think that energy created by the younger guys (here) will give us a chance to perform well right through these seven games. That's something we've thought about a lot back at home."
Ponting's return has created a selection dilemma for Australia, which must decide who to omit from the team which has performed with such distinction in the opening three games.
Victorian Cameron White could find himself the unlucky man to make way for Ponting despite scores of 53, 42 and 105.
"Cameron's played really well, I've been impressed with how he's played in all three innings to tell the truth," Ponting said.
"I thought the way he controlled the innings for us the other night (at the Rose Bowl) and his own innings was very good. He's been in and around the side for a few years and been waiting for an opportunity to bat a little bit higher up the order."
"I think he showed us all over the last couple of weeks he's more than capable of batting anywhere in the order and that's a real positive for us and makes selections for tomorrow's game a little more difficult."
A series victory in the one-dayers will not be compensation for losing the urn, Ponting said, but will help Australia's preparation for the Champions Trophy later this month and build self-belief ahead of the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent.
England's bid to reverse its ailing one-day fortunes became more difficult when it decided to rest senior duo Paul Collingwood and James Anderson.
Collingwood will miss the next three games and Anderson two.
But Ashes hero Stuart Broad (neck) and inexperienced opener Joe Denly (knee) are available after recovering from injury.
"We are about winning games and at the moment our one-day cricket is very ordinary," said England coach Andy Flower, who believed the country has not produced a decent one-day side since it reached the final of the 1992 World Cup.
"Yes, we have plans and theories on how to play one-day cricket - they aren't working at the moment, certainly on the batting side of things."
"We are investing a lot of time and thought into why one-day cricket in England isn't as good as it should be, and hasn't been for a long time, and how we are going to build a good one-day side."