Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke brushed aside suggestions the upcoming England-Australia One-Day International (ODI) series is an Ashes warm-up.
It's England versus Australia, yet both teams say their five-match one-day series will have nothing to do with next year's Ashes.
England ODI captain Alastair Cook says future games are "irrelevant" while Australia skipper Michael Clarke says for his team "it's all about the one-day series," which starts at Lord's on Friday (29th June).
But the latest battle between cricket's oldest rivals starting at the home of the game is still likely to give some clues to how the Ashes might pan out next summer.
In-form England want to convert recent winning form in ODIs into some form of advantage over Australia.
Top-ranked one-day team Australia have a chance to give a group of young players experience of conditions ahead of their return to England for the Ashes in almost exactly a year.
England are top of the ICC's (International Cricket Council) Test and T20 tables - and will knock Australia off their number one ODI perch over the next two weeks if they can somehow win the series 5-0.
SNTV