By IANS,
London : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is cleared to play the Twenty20 warm up game against Bangladesh Monday as the hit he took on his wrist at the nets Saturday was not as serious as feared initially.
A Cricket Australia (CA) spokesman said Ponting was never in doubt for the game against Bangladesh at Nottingham as the hit was only a whack.
“He’s iced it, he’s got a bandage on it, there’s no worry with it whatsoever,” the spokesman said. “It’s just a whack on the wrist basically … it shouldn’t be any issue at all.”
There was a scare all the same when his part in the team’s first full practice session in Nottingham was curtailed after he received the blow.
Ponting lay prone on the ground for a couple of minutes, teammates huddling around him, before being taken away for treatment, The Times reported.
It was almost a re-enactment of the mishap that ruled Glenn McGrath out of the Edgbaston Test in the 2005 Ashes series when the fast bowler stood on a stray ball on the outfield – Ponting’s injury was also the result of a basic error.
Ponting, before going into bat, went to pick up a ball by the side netting when a Mike Hussey shot from the adjoining net struck him full on the wrist.
This is the same wrist on which Ponting had major reconstructive surgery in July last year after problems in the Caribbean.