4 Jan 2011

Ponting to have surgery on broken finger

6:32 am on 4 January 2011

The Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is to undergo surgery today on the fractured finger which forced him to miss his first test match in six years this week.

The 36-year-old fractured a bone the little finger in his left hand while fielding in the third Ashes test in Perth and played through the injury in the defeat in Melbourne last week.

He was rested for this week's fifth test in Sydney to give him time to recuperate before the 50-over World Cup, which starts in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next month.