Ponting bats in nets, untroubled by finger injury

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Australia captain Ricky   Ponting appeared untroubled by his broken finger when he  batted in the nets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday ahead of the fourth Ashes test against England.

Ponting, who injured the little finger on his left hand  when attempting a catch in the third test in Perth, practised  against a bowling machine indoors then went outside to face a  raft of different bowlers on a sunny morning in Melbourne.

“He said it felt pretty good after facing some balls on  the machines and facing some bowlers,” vice captain Michael Clarke told reporters after the training session.

“Obviously we’re all very hopeful and pretty confident   that, unless they cut his finger off, it’s going to   be really hard to leave Punter (Ponting) out.

“I think he’s going to have to wait until tomorrow and see  how it pulls up after having a bat today, but he’s pretty  happy about how things went.”
Clarke said Ponting would forfeit his usual spot in the  slips and play either mid-on or mid-off should he be deemed  fit to play in the test starting tomorrow.