Ponting believes Australia are now ready to reclaim Ashes

The Australians arrived in New Zealand after clean-sweeping Pakistan and then the West Indies in Tests and soon added another series win after two solid victories over the Kiwis.

The next big mission on Australia's calendar is the Ashes series and they will be desperate for revenge after England took the honours last year.

Ponting believes his team have come through the summer perfectly and said after the triumph in Hamilton: "I don't think we could be in a better place.

"There will be no excuses from us because we've done everything that I would have liked to achieve this summer and we've done it well.

"Now that we've got a good successive run of wins under our belt there's a great confidence in the group so we can look forward to the Ashes knowing we've done most things as well as we can.

"The summer was really good for us, I think. There were probably some question marks over our Test cricket before the summer about being inconsistent through the Ashes series.

"Our consistency and our general level of play has been a little bit higher so I'm really proud of what the group's been able to do – especially when you consider all the cricket that we've had to play."

Ponting paid special tribute to Mitchell Johnson after the win in Hamilton. The industrious left-arm fast bowler claimed 10 wickets to end what has been a tumultuous two years of cricket.

In contrast, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori blamed his side's series defeat on not being consistent enough and failing to take key opportunities when they arose.

Uncapped Canterbury batsman Rob Nicol has been included in the New Zealand squad for the ICC World Twenty20, while left-hander Jesse Ryder returns to the international fold after a seven-month absence following an abdominal operation.

Injured duo Wayne Parnell (groin) and Justin Kemp (back) have been omitted from South Africa's final squad for the tournament, with Juan Theron the only uncapped player in the

15-man list.

Top-order batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has been included in Sri Lanka's 15-man squad.

The 40-year-old is a surprise inclusion in the squad which also features promising wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal and all-rounder Thissara Perera.