Ricky Ponting said that his Australia side had flirted with perfection in crushing England on Tuesday to clinch their one-day series 2-1, adding that it would boost his squad's confidence before the Ashes series.

"That was very satisfying," Ponting told a news conference after the world champions won by eight wickets at The Oval.

"It was the result of a lot of hard work, a lot of talking about where we were going wrong. That's as close as a perfect game for us.

"I couldn't be happier what we have done in the last couple of days.

"It's only one-day cricket but it will give us a bit of confidence. It gives you a nice feeling around the place."

Australia restricted England to 228 for seven before racing to victory with 15.1 overs to spare, with Adam Gilchrist scoring 121 not out, his 11th one-day century, at faster than a run a ball.

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"I haven't often been there at the end of a run chase," Gilchrist said. "I'm not usually there after 15 overs. It was my first one-day hundred for a couple of years and my first one in England."

England captain Michael Vaughan, whose side won the first one-dayer at Headingley before being outclassed in the next two, again downplayed the importance of the one-dayers before next week's first Test at Lord's.

"When we won at Headingley everybody said the momentum was with England but I didn't believe that and I don't believe it is with Australia now. It's just important that we hit July 21st really hard. That's the biggest challenge of the summer."

Kevin Pietersen, vying for the England number five Test batting spot with Graham Thorpe, was England's top scorer on Tuesday with 74. "I think he has given the selectors a real big headache," Vaughan added.