Birmingham: Australia captain Ricky Ponting overtook Allan Border as his country's leading run-scorer in Test cricket on the second day of the third Ashes Test against England on Friday.

Ponting needed just 25 runs at the start of his innings to surpass former captain Border's mark of 11,174 runs and move up into third place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers.

The Tasmanian, resuming on 17 not out here at Edgbaston, required just eight more runs Friday and an uncertain clip off his legs for three off fast bowler Andrew Flintoff saw him to the record in 22 fewer matches than it had taken Border to compile his career total

But with Australia 1-0 down in the Ashes with three matches to play, Ponting, speaking to reporters before this match, said his focus was on team success rather than individual milestones.

"I know about it," Ponting said of the record to reporters here Wednesday. "I have known about it since the beginning of the series.

"Things came up on the board during the first Test, given I went past 11,000 and all that stuff. So I have had a rough idea but I have not thought about it or focused on it at all.

"I have bigger fish to fry than that right at the moment. But, look hopefully it comes. It would be nice to get it out of the way in the first innings of this game and put that behind us.

"Twenty-five runs is not what I am after in this game, I am after a big score but I have not thought about it since the end of the Lord's Test (where England won by 115 runs)."