Ponting urges selectors to keep faith in North

Hobart (Tasmania, Australia), Jan.15 (ANI): Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has urged the national team selectors to keep faith with West Australian Marcus North after he failed to silence his critics in a no-win situation on Friday.

North had nothing to gain and everything to lose when he went to the wicket following Ponting and Michael Clarke's mammoth 352-run stand in the third Test.

He fell edging a Mohammad Asif leg-cutter, the same manner of his SCG dismissal, for 21.

Now with 207 runs in six Tests at 23 this summer, North is not assured that he will make it for the two-Test tour of New Zealand in March.

But Ponting felt North, who scored three centuries in his first eight Tests, looked in good nick during his 46-ball stay and felt he should be retained for the upcoming tour.

"I hope so, yes," the captain said.

"It was a horrible time really for him to come out and bat today with the situation of the game and where it was heading. When he came out he probably had an hour to bat and it was one of those situations where you don't have a lot to gain but a lot to lose," Ponting added.

"So hopefully that's taken into consideration by the selectors," Ponting said. (ANI)