Ponting to captain Prime Minister's XI against Windies

Melbourne - Ricky Ponting will captain the Australian Prime Minister’s XI against the West Indies on Jan 29 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.

Ricky Ponting is thrilled about the opportunity.

“It’s a big honour for me to be selected as captain of the Prime Minister’s XI,” he said in a release.

“It will be an exciting team of emerging cricketers and I’m looking forward to leading them against the West Indies.”

As for the rest of the team, that will be selected by Cricket Australia’s National Selection Panel (NSP) with input from Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and will be announced in January.

Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland said he was looking forward to the fixture, which will be played under lights in Canberra for the first time.

It will be an important game for the tourists as they prepare for the Commonwealth Bank Series against Australia during February.

The match is to be televised on Fox Sports.