Cricket: Leicester awaits Ponting after Twenty20 disaster

A sign in the crowd after Australia's early exit from the World Twenty20 cricket tournament summed it up: "Enjoy Leicester, Ricky".

The defeat at the hands of the West Indies prompted Australian captain Ricky Ponting to quip that another loss to Sri Lanka would mean two weeks preparing for the Ashes in the English Midlands city.

"I don't think that would be great for anybody," he grinned.

But, following a six-wicket loss against the Sri Lankans, team management was preparing for make the trip 50km south, where 10 of the 15-man Twenty20 squad will await the arrival of their fellow test players, and investigating options for a scratch match.

"That [a practice match] would probably be our best preparation, but the test players don't arrive for a while yet," Ponting said. "There will be all sorts of things spoken about tonight, I'm sure, as far as how we make the most of our next couple of weeks, so we'll see what comes of that.

"Now that England are through to the next round, they're obviously playing this form of the game for another week at least so, if there is one positive, maybe we can get something from our couple of weeks down in Leicester."

A four-day warm-up for the Ashes is planned against Sussex from June 24 with another against England Lions starting on July 1, a week before the first test.

Ponting was determined his side's Twenty20 short-comings - the loss to Sri Lanka was their 12th in 23 Twenty20 internationals and fifth in a row - would not leave any impression on the test squad.

- AAP