'Of all the venues in England, I'm glad we're playing at Headingley'

Desperate to salvage their Ashes tour, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is hoping to win the fourth Test at Headingley, where he has scored two centuries and his side has not lost a Test in the last 34 years.

Ponting is hoping that result-oriented Headingley will continue to be lucky ground for them as they look to cancel the 1-0 lead, England got by winning the Lord' Test.

"Of all the venues in England, I'm glad we're playing the fourth Test at Headingley because I believe it presents us with a great chance to level the series.

"It has fond memories for me and an excellent record of results. I'm not big on stats but I do know there hasn't been a draw there since 1996 and Australia has not played a drawn Test at the ground since 1975, when I was only about six months old," Ponting wrote in his column for the 'Australian'.

The skipper also recounted his personal success at the ground.

"I made my first Test hundred there in 1997 and made another one in my only other Test there four years later. It's always nice to come to a ground where you've had a bit of personal success. Everything seems to feel a little bit better and you feel a little bit more comfortable," he wrote.

Ponting also posed confidence in Shane Watson's ability to bat up the order and reckons that the fast bowling all-rounder has a big role to play in the rest of the series.

"He batted at three in the tour match against Northampton before the third Test and played beautifully down there. He got picked on the tour as the spare batter for a reason. We knew he could bat anywhere in the order.

"He has been exposed to batting at the top of the order in one-day cricket and looked very comfortable. His technique will stand up against anyone's and when fast bowlers deliver some ordinary balls he jumps on them pretty quickly and puts them away.

"He has certainly looked the part and hopefully we'll get a bit more bowling out of him at Headingley because he'll play a big role for us in the next couple of games, I think," he said.