The all-conquering Australians are coming to Sussex but you might have to get up early to catch them.

Skipper Ricky Ponting and his team open their Ashes tour in Twenty20 action against a PCA Masters XI at what promsies to be a packed Arundel Castle ground tomorrow (5.30pm).

Almost 8,500 tickets have been sold in advance.

Gates open at 1.30pm and there will be a limited supply of tickets available on the day.

The message from Arundel, though, is that early arrival is essential if you want to snap up one of the remaining spots in the ground and preferable even if you already have your ticket.

The Masters are led by New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and are likely to include big-hitting Hampshire and England all-rounder Kevin Pietersen.

Past and present England players Paul Collingwood, Darren Maddy, Devon Malcolm, Chris Read, Chris Lewis, Graeme Swann, Mark Ealham and Phil deFreitas are also in the team, along with New Zealander Chris Cairns.

It is a decent line-up but not one which is likely to overly trouble the Aussies as they prepare for a series of limited overs games which precede the Test series.

Admission costs £15 for adults and £10 for OAPS and juniors aged up to 16 (free for fives and unders).

Meanwhile, Ponting marked Australia's arrival on English soil by insisting his side could handle the pressure of expectation and continue their dominance of the Ashes this summer.

Australia's one-day squad arrived in England on Sunday hoping to maintain their stranglehold over England stretching back to 1989, when they upset expectations by reclaiming the Ashes.

Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh have all continued dominance as Australia captains and now it is the turn of Ponting, whose task is possibly more difficult than his predecessors now England are officially rated as the number two side in the world.

"I am not looking at it as me being the first captain to lose the Ashes, I am looking at it more as being just another Australian captain to retain the Ashes," stressed Ponting.

"I don't think there is more pressure on this team than any other series that we play either.

"We have gone into every series that we have played pretty much over the last ten years as favourites and have been expecting to win. That might not be the same this time but that's nothing we think about - we are just here to play the best possible cricket we can."

As part of Australia's determination to retain the Ashes, Ponting and coach John Buchanan will focus on the challenges ahead rather than the impressive unbeaten run over England which stretches to eight successive series.

"We won't really think about the past," claimed Ponting. "It's a nice thing to have behind us and there will be less pressure on us going into this series with those stats behind us, but one of the strengths of this team is that we don't ever try and think about what has happened in the past.

"We try and stay in the present as much as we can and prepare ourselves as well as we can for every game that we play - this series will be no different to that."