Australia's opening batsman Justin Langer says losing the last Ashes series was good news for world cricket. He told Five Live Sport: "We were successful for so long. But for us to lose to England showed other countries that the competition was still on.
"I think losing the Ashes was great for world cricket, English cricket and, to a degree, Australian cricket."
He also said the Ashes was Australia's top sports event, as important as the football World Cup is to English fans.
Interview: Australian batsman Justin Langer
The 35-year-old is already preparing himself for what may be his final Ashes series and a training camp has been arranged for the entire Australian squad in August.
Langer and his team-mates are determined his team make life difficult for England when they arrive in November.
He said: "Most of the core of the team who lost last time will be together (again) and will be doing everything we can to be ready and to give England as hard a time as possible, as hard as England gave us last summer.
"Since the day we returned from England [last September] there was a lot of soul-searching. It hurt losing the Ashes.
"We are taking the Ashes seriously. It's going to be a massive event, as big as the football World Cup is in your part of the world, and I'd love to be a part of it.
"People are saying England have stuttered a little, but they have got players like Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and a very good bowling attack.
"They are going to be very tough to beat."
Tickets go on sale to Australian supporters on Thursday, and on general sale from 19 June.
"This is the moment Australians have been waiting for," said Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland, who has described the series as "the biggest celebration of cricket in this country in living memory".
Team captain Ricky Ponting has urged fans to order tickets early.
"The Australian team can't wait for this Ashes series to start and having a sea of green and gold supporters in the stand will give us a massive boost," he commented.
I agree with him, perhaps the Aussies were a little complacent when they came here.
It should have woken them up a little, realised they need to blood a few more players, without McGrath they had a very oridinary attack (bar Warne obviously!)
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