‘It is going to take a fair bit to keep me out of Boxing Day Ashes Test’, says Ponting

MELBOURNE - Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that he is a certain starter for the Boxing Day Test of the Ashes series against England despite having a fractured finger.

“It is going to take a fair bit to keep me out of this game,” he said. “I said after Perth I had a good chance of playing and nothing has changed - and I am a lot more confident than I was then. I am really surprised at how good it’s got in the last couple of days,” the Daily Express quoted Ponting, as saying.

The 36-year-old had fractured the little finger in his left hand while attempting to claim an edge at slip off Jonathan Trott on day three of the third-Test at Perth’s WACA Ground.

He failed to take to the field on day four as Australia wrapped up a 267-run victory to level the five-match series at 1-1.

Australia desperately needs Ponting’s 151 Tests worth of experience, his willingness to fight and his ability to lift his players for the big occasion, but cannot afford a passenger. (ANI)