Ricky Ponting is not surprised to see Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan omitted from England's training squad.

2005 hero Steve Harmison has also been left out of the 16-man training squad before next month's first Test in Cardiff.

Vaughan, who resigned as England captain last August, had vowed to earn a recall to the team with a strong showing for Yorkshire. But he has managed a top score of just 43 in a total of 159 first-class runs in six outings this season.

Durham fast bowler Harmison has been given a chance to force himself back into contention with a place in the England Lions team to face the tourists in a four-day warm-up at Worcester on July 1.

Australia skipper Ponting, though, is not especially concerned over which players his men will come up against this summer.

"I am not surprised that those two guys are not around, to tell the truth," said Ponting, whose side practised at Hove in preparation for their opening warm-up match with Sussex.

"With the way their group have been performing of late, I think their squad pretty much picked itself."

Little familiarity

Ponting anticipates a hard-fought series between two sets of players who know plenty about one another.

"The beauty of this series is we have both played a lot of cricket against each other - there are not too many new guys we do not know a lot about," he believes.

"There will not be too many surprises, but we will not be worrying too much about what they will be doing.

"There are a couple of games that we want to get a lot out of before we head to Cardiff - and we hope we can do that.

"The group is coming together nicely.

"All of our training facilities have been good and we have been lucky with the weather.

"We are just looking forward to getting the Ashes under way."

Aussie pace bowler Brett Lee, meanwhile, will be disappointed if he does not get a chance to renew old rivalries with Vaughan.

Lee disappointed

"The squad they have got is very strong, but I was a bit shocked with Michael Vaughan not getting included - more so because of what he has done against Australia," said Lee.

"It is a shame he will not be playing against us. He has the utmost respect from our players, because he seems to get runs when it matters most."

Lee will be wary of England, whatever the make-up of their team.

"Any side you play against with a massive crowd behind them, you have always got to fear them," he said.

"All we can do is play our own brand of cricket and not worry too much about what England are doing."

Rashid in group

England's leg-spin prospect Adil Rashid, who impressed during the recent World Twenty20 campaign, joins Harmison in the Lions side which will be captained by Ian Bell.

Ponting is looking forward to getting his men in tune for the challenges ahead.

"At his best, we all know how good a bowler Harmison can be," said the Australia captain.

"At one stage, he was probably the best fast bowler in Test cricket.

"It will be good preparation for all of us, to face those qualities of bowlers, and will also give those guys an opportunity to put their names in front of the England selectors.

Ponting sees the Lions match as an ideal preparation for his team.

"You want to be facing the best bowlers and batsmen you can going into a Test series," he explains.

"The better opposition you can have, the better prepared you will be going into the first Test."