Andrew Strauss has refused to become drawn into the traditional war-of-words in the build-up to the Ashes series.

Strauss is being named as the number one target for Australia's attack this summer.

The England captain, a veteran of two previous Ashes campaigns, was not surprised at all to learn Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting had issued the traditional warning following the announcement of their squad in Sydney.

"We try to target the opposition captain a little bit - if you do that you can generally take another couple of other guys down with him," revealed Ponting, to signal the launch of Australia's usual media campaign in preparation for the Ashes.

Strauss to adopt a diplomatic response 

But Strauss has decided to adopt a diplomatic response and is resisting any attempt to become involved in a war-of-words with seven weeks still to go before the two sides meet up in Cardiff for the opening Test on July 8.

"I don't mind that," admitted Strauss. "It's something you expect from the Australians, but it's not something we're going to spend a lot of time concentrating on.

"We'd just rather concentrate on our own preparation and that sort of thing that comes out in the media is not something that interests us particularly."

Strauss and the rest of England's backroom staff awoke this morning to discover all-rounder Andrew Symonds had been surprisingly overlooked with Shane Watson and Andrew McDonald being preferred for the all-rounder's spots.

Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz is the only specialist slow bowler included although Simon Katich can also bowl leg-spin and Michael Clarke has proved a useful left-arm spinner in the past.

The planning now begins for England as they attempt to regain the Ashes they lost so comprehensively when they slipped to a 5-0 series humiliation in Australia just over two years ago.

"To a certain extent (you can start planning) although with any series you play you like to concentrate a lot more on your own side than the opposition's," claimed Strauss.

"Attention turning towards Ashes"

"I think we know that whatever Australian side we come up against is going to be a pretty strong one, but we would prefer to concentrate on our own preparation rather than worry too much about who we're going to be facing.

"Every day we get closer to the Ashes, attention turns towards it. Even so at this stage there is still a lot of cricket to be played so it's something that's very much in the background for us.

"We've got these one-dayers (against West Indies) and then the Twenty20 World Cup which we have got to focus on and it would be wrong for us not to focus on that. We'll turn our attention to the Ashes once the Twenty20 World Cup is finished."

England can at least take comfort in the fact that only four members of Australia's squad - Ponting, Clarke, Brett Lee and Katich - have previous experience of Test cricket in English conditions.

Other members of the squad, notably Phil Hughes at Middlesex earlier this summer, have played at county level, but with the majority of the Australian tourists having little experience of English conditions, it is an area that England could exploit.

Ponting promises England tough test

"We may possibly be able to look at that, but any Australian side that comes over here is going to be pretty strong," stressed Strauss.

"The most important thing is that we play our conditions well - we obviously know them so it's up to us to play them better than the Australians do."

The 20-year-old left-hander caused a storm of protest when Middlesex signed him for the first few weeks of the season because it gave him an opportunity to adjust to English conditions in advance of the Ashes series.

Hughes scored 882 runs in 13 innings in all competitions before returning to Australia, but Middlesex team-mate Shah believes England would be wrong to believe his experience of county cricket will have a major bearing on the Ashes.

"Playing in England has got its advantages," said Shah. "You play against the moving ball and from a batter's point of view he's probably had the ideal preparation.

"At the same time Middlesex are my club and they want to get the best player they could get in to try and challenge for trophies - Middlesex have got their own agenda in trying to put out the best team possible.

"I don't think you can say that just because he's come in and played with us for a few weeks that it's going to tip the Ashes in their favour or our favour.

"You can't really worry about how Ricky Ponting or Phillip Hughes is playing, we just need to worry about how we're playing and if we go out there and perform I'm pretty sure we can get a good result."