Ponting ponders heavy injury toll

Ricky Ponting believes Australia's hectic schedule this season has contributed to an unusually high injury toll that has left at least 14 players sidelined at various stages. Stuart Clark, Brett Lee and Shane Watson could not be considered for the tour of South Africa due to long-term problems, while Phil Jaques and Andrew Symonds also had surgery during the summer.

"That's as bad a run as I've seen in Australian cricket for a long time," Ponting told the Australian. "There have been lots of different things which have all added up that explain why we've had as many changes as we have. I've made it pretty clear over the last few days that I don't think it was any coincidence we played some of our best cricket later in the New Zealand one-day series because we had a relatively settled side."

The injuries contributed to Australia not fielding the same line-up in any two consecutive Tests this season, while the one-day squad was just as unsettled in the early stages. From the start of the India tour to the end of the South Africa series, Australia played nine Tests in 13 weeks and Ponting said the lack of rest time had contributed to the injuries.

"We always knew this season was going to be tough physically on us because of the programming from the start of the Indian tour in late September," Ponting said. "A lot of the Tests were on top of each other, particularly the three South African Tests all back to back. Even the two New Zealand Tests earlier in the summer were on top of each other.

"If you're carrying little niggles from game to game there wasn't enough time for them to get over it. If they go straight into another game, those niggles can turn into bigger injuries. That's part of the problem we've had over the past few months. It's not as if it's been a lot of our fringe guys either. It's been Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson and more recently Michael Clarke, our vice-captain. It's been a lot of the big boys."

Symonds is still battling a problem with his right knee, which hindered him during the Boxing Day Test. He had an operation soon after that match but the knee was causing him grief during Queensland's Sheffield Shield match over the weekend.

He bowled two overs before leaving the field and although he did bat, he will fly to Melbourne this week to consult Cricket Australia's doctor Trefor James. However, even if Symonds had been fit he would not have been available for the trip to South Africa having been stood down from national duties for the second time in the past six months.