Ponting won't give up pulling

Ricky Ponting believes his pulling will become less risky as soon as his injured elbow heals properly. Ponting has been dismissed twice to the shot during the Pakistan series and there have been calls for him to shelve it to extend his outstanding career.

However, Ponting, 35, is determined to keep playing the way that has gained him 11,561 runs at 54.79 in 141 Tests. "Wait until I get fit again and we'll see if everyone is still saying the same thing about it then," Ponting said in the Sunday Telegraph. "They are such reactive shots, they are instinctive. I'm not sure how people in the past have gone about putting them away.

"I think I have been out twice this summer pulling, but it is a shot that keeps bringing me runs so we'll see how we go with that. But as I said, if I get my elbow right then I think you'll see me playing with a lot more freedom and not only those shots, but a lot of other shots around the ground as well."

Ponting is having his worst home Test summer in more than a decade after picking up 216 runs in the five games against West Indies and Pakistan. The problems stem from his sore left elbow, which was tenderised by a Kemar Roach bouncer at the WACA last month, and there have also been suggestions that he step down from his preferred No.3.

"I read it for the first time the other day midway through the Test match, when all the negative stuff was in the papers about the team and about certain individuals and selecting of the team," Ponting said. "I haven't thought about that.

"But if the day comes where I think there is someone better in the order to bat at No. 3 than myself, then by all means I will give it some thought, but I still think I'm the best equipped to be batting at No. 3 in the Test side. Hopefully I can show everybody that over the next few weeks."

Ponting has the summer's final Test on his home ground in Hobart to find some form before the start of limited-overs campaigns against Pakistan and West Indies. He felt the extra rest between the second and third matches would help his elbow.

"Where I've struggled with it is I've had two or three days at a time in between batting days and I've just needed a little bit longer than that," he said. "From where I batted in the second innings in the Sydney Test, I'll have had about six or seven days without batting. So when I hit the nets on Monday it will be better than it has been in the last couple of weeks."