Smith seeks Ponting's help

With Australia aiming to recover from a disastrous Ashes series, new captain Steven Smith is looking forward to gaining valuable counsel from former skipper Ricky Ponting on how to lead the team during the transition period.

“I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to get him (Ponting) on the phone and talk about a few things with him and just continue to try and learn," Smith said.

"I was lucky enough to play under him as a player. He's certainly a little bit different to Michael [Clarke] in a few ways that he's run things," Smith added.