Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh today admitted the national team was ageing and it was time for younger players to press their claims for selection.

But, despite a period of transition looming, Waugh said the Australian team was still a very good one as it prepared for the Ashes tour of England, starting in June.

"Yeah, I guess we're probably looking for some younger guys to put their hand up," Waugh told AAP in Canberra as he prepared to skipper the Prime Minister's XI against an ATSIC Chairman's XI.

"There's some promising players out there. A couple of 19-year-olds did very well at shield cricket this year. (Batsman Shane) Watson for Tasmania looked a very good player, so there's some talent certainly there.

"I guess it's just that these days you probably don't notice it so much because the guys are playing beyond 30 whereas 10 years ago they weren't.

"They were retiring and you could see the young guys coming through."

Reports this week claimed that, leaving aside post-war teams which were necessarily older, the 2001 side is the oldest Australia has sent to England since 1909.

The article compared the current, highly successful team with the West Indies' dominant 1980s side which was stacked with players aged over 30 before falling into decline.

"I don't see age as any problem at all. It's only a barrier if you let it be a barrier," Waugh said.

"It's more if you're competitive, you're fit and you want to be there. If you're good enough, it doesn't matter how old you are."

But transition was inevitable soon.

"Obviously the selectors are going to have to make some changes," he said.

"For instance, in the next Ashes tour in four years time there's going to be probably less than half the Ashes squad that's going over there (this season).

"So there's going to have to be changes. I think we've prepared pretty well. We've got some young guys coming through. They've got a lot of experience now whereas a couple of years ago they didn't have that.

"The transition will hopefully be smooth.

"It is an ageing side but I believe it's still a very good side."

Waugh also backed selector Trevor Hohns' comments that some senior Australian Test players were on notice this tour to return the faith selectors had shown in them.

"I wouldn't say it's borrowed time but I think everyone's been put on notice and that's fair enough. We're professional players," he said.

"I can handle that and I'm sure the other guys can. If you don't perform then no one's got a guaranteed right to be in the Australian cricket side.

"That's the way it's got to be. You've got to have players on edge, wanting to perform and consistently performing at the top level."

Waugh agreed that leg-spinner Stuart MacGill was again unlucky not to make the Test squad of 16, and he hoped MacGill would not become disillusioned.

"He's always unlucky. He's a quality bowler," Waugh said.

"I've read reports where I've preferred Shane Warne and that wasn't correct. "I went into the selection meeting and had my thoughts and aired my views but Stuart MacGill is a quality player.

"He'll no doubt play more cricket for Australia. I just hope he doesn't get, I guess, disappointed or disillusioned with not making this squad because I think he's got something to offer Australian cricket."

The one-day series in England starts against Pakistan on June 9 in Cardiff while the Ashes series begins with the first Test at Edgbaston on July 5.

© 2001 AAP