Ponting takes a dig at Howard

Ricky Ponting, who captained Shane Watson before Michael Clarke has endorsed the all-rounder work ethic and emphasised that Cricket Australia's high performance manager Pat Howard would regret what he said about Watson.

Howard said at a press conference recently that Watson works in the interests of the team "sometimes."

"I think he'd regret saying that as well but people are going to make judgments," Ponting was quoted as saying on ninemsn.com.au.

He added: "Shane worked as hard as anybody around his cricket, there's no doubt about that. He's obviously made a blue here - I don't like to refer to it as homework because it wasn't homework - not getting his tasks done that were given to him by the coach. I've never known him to be anything other than a very good team player and a great bloke to have around your team."

Meanwhile, on the same website, wicketkeeping great Ian Healy indicated that it was high time Australia's performance sheet had a better look it. "It's certainly not a time to drop players as the team has been destabilised for too long. It is time to perform and put energy into making runs and taking wickets. This is rock bottom-type stuff but it can be times like this in which players step up and perform. We'll see how much ticker the Aussies show against India," wrote Healy, a Channel Nine commentator.