Australia set eye on Ashes series after World Cup exit

After Australia's World Cup campaign came to an end, their all focus has now shifted on the upcoming Ashes series. Coach Langer is optimistic of David Warner and Steve Smith doing well in the series.

"Hopefully they get up to speed like they did with the white ball. They're both absolute professionals, they're very talented, they're great players. They'll get back into that. Regardless of the colour of the ball, they'll both be fine," Cricket.com.au quoted Langer as saying.

Warner and Smith displayed scintillating performance in the premier tournament. Moreover, Warner was the second highest run-getter of the tournament as he amassed 647 runs, only one run behind Rohit Sharma, who tops the list.

However, Australia faced a semi-final exit from the tournament at the hands of their Ashes rivals, England, on July 11.

Australia faced a lot of problems while selecting the World Cup squad and they are going to face this problem once again ahead of the Ashes as there are many players who are giving tough competition to each other.

Prior to the Ashes series, Australia will play against Australia A on July 23-26 in Southampton.

"There's going to be some real competition. That's why we want to play the two Australian teams. What we've known for so long in Australian cricket there has been such cut-throat competition and that has increased our depth. To be able to play a game like that - we won't select the Ashes until a day after that game," he said.

Ashes series will commence from August 1.