Australia will use the looming retirements of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as further impetus for a 5-0 Ashes thrashing of England to crown the careers of the bowling greats.

Captain Ricky Ponting banned talk of regaining the Ashes before the third Test in Perth, but will tell his side it can grab a place alongside Australia's 1920-21 side as the only teams to have white-washed the old enemy in a five-match series.

Ponting will on Tuesday remind his team of its rare opportunity before the fourth Test at the MCG, where Warne and McGrath start the penultimate Tests of their magnificent careers before a packed crowd of up to 98,000.

"That might be something that might be spoken about, if there's an opportunity there for that to happen, it would be nice if this team could be the one to do it," Ponting said.

"I think little things like that are things that are nice to know for the group.

"Even with Warney and Glenn finishing, I think it's something they'd like to say they'd achieved in their careers as well, and the rest of the players, if we could be the first team in a long time to achieve that, that would be great."

Ponting said Australia was compelled to give Warne and McGrath, who have 1,254 Test wickets between them, a send-off befitting their status.

"They're going to go down as two of the all-time greats that this game has ever seen, so we've got to get out there and play cricket as well and hard as we can and make sure they're sent off on the right note," he said.

The match is perfectly scripted for Warne to take his 700th career scalp before his home crowd before he and McGrath retire from Test cricket after the fifth Test in Sydney. McGrath plans to bow out after next year's World Cup.

Ponting detected a buzz in his players who were thrilled to be sharing the stage with the retiring bowlers - similar to the one the players had entering Steve Waugh's farewell Test three years ago.

Having been a part of that side, which had to fight hard for a draw against India, Ponting said Australia had to put aside the emotion of this match and keep the pressure on England, which will be relieved of the shackles despite trailing 3-0.

"This is not a celebration whatsoever, this is another Test match," Ponting said.

"Guys have got a lot of pride in their own performances and the team performance and I'd expect the mood around the group and the way we play to be as good as it was for the first Test in Brisbane."

A series whitewash would confirm Ponting's current side - which has won its past 10 Tests - a position alongside Australia's greatest outfits, if it is not there already.

Coach John Buchanan was compelled to capture the mood of the summer, and asked the players to don dinner suits on Saturday and pose for a team photograph in the MCG long room.

"We all dressed up in our tuxes and a few of the boys (had) their hair slicked back like (former Invincible) Bill Brown on the boat years ago ... it will be something for the guys to keep in years to come," Ponting said.

Cool weather means the MCG pitch should retain its moisture early, and that combined with a good cover of grass means the wicket could favour the ball, after batsmen dominated the first three Tests.

Forecast showers are unlikely to deter a threat on the world record for a single day's play at a Test match (90,800) or an aggregate crowd (350,354).

England is yet to announce its team, but wicketkeeper Geraint Jones is under the most pressure to retain his place after a poor series with the bat. He could be replaced by Chris Read.

England captain Andrew Flintoff, who has been troubled by ankle problems this tour, trained on Christmas Day but did not bowl.

But a team spokesman said Flintoff took part in England's main session on Sunday and was fine.

Six Australian players had a light net session before the rain arrived, while England's squad trained indoors. Both teams had separate Christmas lunches at city restaurants.

The match starts at 10.30am (AEDT).

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson (likely 12th man).

England (from): Andrew Flintoff (capt), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Ed Joyce, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Geraint Jones, Chris Read, Sajid Mahmood, Jamie Dalrymple, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett, Monty Panesar, James Anderson.

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