Mickey Arthur: Ricky Ponting can play in next Ashes

Ricky Ponting has been backed by Australia coach Mickey Arthur to play in next year's Ashes series in England.

Arthur believes that Ponting still has the quality to perform well for Australia despite recent speculation regarding the 37-year-old's international future.

The former South African batsman said: "I know there was a lot of media pressure and talk around Ricky, but Ricky's not going anywhere.

"We hope Ricky's scoring enough runs to go to the Ashes, most certainly, in England.

"Ricky's still got a lot of Test runs in him, there's no doubt about that."

Ponting captained Australia to one victory and three defeats against England during his time as skipper.