Cricket News
Hauritz backed by Punter
Australia captain Ricky Ponting remains confident that Nathan Hauritz will be a success this summer.The 27-year-old has played in just four Test matches to date and struggled in the opening tour game in England against Sussex.
However, Ponting expects better from his man in the final Ashes warm-up game against the England Lions.
He said: "The plan from the start was to give him good opportunities to play in the first two games and get some good quality bowling under his belt against some good players in these sort of conditions.
"Last week for him was a really good blow-out, the first time he's been back playing four-day cricket for quite a while. He didn't play in the South African Test series and has been in and out of our one-day side.
"He's been starved of four-day cricket for quite a while. That game last week should have done him the world of good.
"He's trained very well and hard the last couple of days. There are good signs there.
"He's always willing to put in the hard work, to try and learn and try different things, so we hope he'll get some results out of this game for us."