Ponting determined to regain his touch

Melbourne, Feb 22 (UNI) Out-of-form Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is determined to rediscover his free-scoring touch despite another woeful display against Sri Lanka in their CB series tie here today.

''I want to work my way through it and come through the other side,'' Ponting said. ''I'm not quite through it yet, but I'll keep trying and I'll keep working hard.'' ''I did a lot of training yesterday and came out early this morning to get some bat on ball for a while. I'm working hard enough,'' he added.

Ponting, who is the best one-day batsman in the world according to the ICC rankings, has averaged a meagre 10.66 from six matches in the ongoing CB series, and could only score 11 from 34 balls in today's match.

However, the 33-year-old was confident that it was only a matter of time before his form returned and was hopeful of putting up a decent score in the next match against India on February 24.

''I really do only think it's getting half-an-hour to an hour in the middle and every batsman says that,'' he said. ''And it's getting that time in the middle that's really important.

''Hopefully it's on Sunday that I get that hour in the middle and a few balls from the middle and things will start to turn around.'' UNI XC AB RKM RN2013