Ponting hopes unwell North will play Cape Town Test

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar.19 (ANI): An unwell Australian middle-order batsman Marcus North is still likely to feature in the squad that takes on South Africa in the third Test that starts here today.

The 29-year-old left-hander made a century on debut in last month's Johannesburg Test and is a key member in Australia's batting line-up, especially with no reserve batsman in the squad.

"There's no other batters here to bring in," Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.

"Hopefully Marcus comes up because he has been vital to us in both Test matches, whether it be with the bat ... (and) he has given us some very handy overs of off-spin in the last Test match.

"Marcus North's not here for training today. He's back at the hotel with a bit of gastro.

"A few of the guys have gone down during the week with something similar that has lasted 24 hours so we're hoping the same thing with him. We'll finalise the 11 in the morning," Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying.Ponting described the match as being extra important for Australia before the Ashes series against England starts in July.

"This is our last Test match for a little while now but we've got another huge series against England coming up for our next lot of Test-match cricket. We want to keep improving all the time so we'll be putting our best foot forward and trying to force another good result for our team," he said. (ANI)