By Scott Heinrich BBC Sport Online

For a man long-touted as a future captain of the Australian Test team, Ricky Ponting is a curious batsman.

The Tasmanian gives the distinct impression he could score runs in his sleep.

But he still has a way to go before his graduation to cricket's elite is complete.

A gifted strokemaker, Ponting's best efforts are so fine that they clog the memory and banish his poor ones to the dustbin.

But the regularity with which he is out for less than 30 - in half of his innings so far - sets the alarm bells ringing.

Ponting is one of the blessed few who commands automatic selection in Australia's first XI.

Yet he is anything but the traditional, stoic Aussie batsman.

Ponting's steadfast refusal to be tied down means he is either a saviour or a sinner, and rarely inbetween.

His Test centuries - and he has 11 of them - have come in a pattern of clusters that you can set your clock by.

But, similarly, failure tends to follow failure in a trough from which he struggles to break free.

India nightmare

When Ponting is scoring well, he is more or less playing with the same application and style as when he is missing out.

When it is working for him - see three tons and two half-centuries in nine innings in 1999-2000 - making big totals is second nature.

But when the touch suddenly leaves him his tendency to carry on as normal costs him dearly.

A prime example was in India 18 months ago, when Ponting was perhaps the most hapless of an indifferent bunch.

The upside of Ponting's way is that a return to the top of his game is just around the corner - his golden run in 1999-2000 was preceded by three successive ducks.