Melbourne, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said that negative comments by former players, who doubted their potential, drove the team to the emphatic Ashes triumph.

"We have all felt we had a real point to prove to a lot of people coming into this series," Ponting said.

"Even on the eve of the first Test I heard a lot of ex-Australian players, some of them are commentators at the moment, ask what their prediction was for the series," Ponting was qouted as saying by the 'Herald Sun' today.

Ponting said some former Australian players did not believe that the team was good enough to win the Ashes and that was disappointing.

"A few of them did not think we could win. That is a bit disappointing as far as I am concerned," he said.

"I think the guys who were concerned there have definitely made it a mission of theirs to make sure that they play a big part in this series," he said.

"If you look at some of the guys that were spoken about, at different times through this series they were magnificent," he added.