SYDNEY: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting will “definitely” tough it out and play in the fourth Ashes Test despite fracturing a finger in the third Test victory, according to batting coach Justin Langer. Ponting, who sustained the injury to the little finger on his left hand while fielding on the third day of the Perth Test, faces a race to be fit for the Melbourne encounter, which starts Sunday. “I would be amazed if Ricky doesn't play in this Test, he is that tough physically and mentally,” Langer told Tuesday's Sydney Morning Herald. “At one-all (in the series), Boxing Day Test, a chance to win the Ashes, he will definitely be there.” “His injury might work in his favor,” he added. “He has been trying so hard and this might help him relax and get ready for the Test match. Rather than working too much and doing batting beforehand, this might be the breather he wanted.” If Ponting was unable to play, the captaincy would fall to his anointed successor, Michael Clarke, who has been equally unimpressive at the crease barring one innings of 80 in the lost Adelaide test. Usman Khawaja was put on stand-by Tuesday and will make his Test debut in Melbourne should Ponting be unable to bat. Free-scoring lefthander Khawaja had already said he was ready for the call. “I've said this before, I think I was ready when I was six years old,” the 24-year-old told reporters on Monday. “I think everyone's ready to play for Australia.” Cook dismisses pitch switch England opener Alastair Cook Monday played down a growing row over Australia's move to change pitches for the vital Melbourne Test, saying they were simply exploiting “home advantage”. Cook shrugged “you'd expect everyone to do it” after news that the MCG was preparing a green pitch that will favor Australia's pace attack and offer little turn for England spinner Graeme Swann. “That is the beauty of home conditions, isn't it?” Cook told journalists in Perth, before the team's departure for Melbourne. “You can prepare a pitch to hopefully suit the home side. That is what we try and do in England in certain cases. There is no reason I would expect Australia not to do it.” British media have accused the MCG of changing pitches after Australia's win on Perth's green deck. But Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stephen Gough said the decision to use the alternative pitch was made before the Perth Test started last week. “I'm glad we made the decision early,” Gough told The Australian newspaper. “I'd hate to think if we released it after Perth whether anyone would think we were up to something. I'm not surprised with the conspiracy theory, given the success in Perth.” “The pitch is out of our control and that's the beauty of cricket, that conditions change from week to week and it's how you adapt to those that determines how successful you are,” Cook said. “The challenge is making sure we are ready and adapted to those conditions.” Cook also backed England to bounce back quickly from its disappointment in Perth.
