Ricky Ponting's cricket future hangs in the balance after ODI dumping

Ricky Ponting is all geared up for the Test series against the West Indies, but failure in this series could end one of the most illustrious careers in international cricket, especially after his dumping from the one-day squad.

Ponting realises that failure in the Caribbean could add more fuel to the critics' fire.

Ponting had a remarkable series against India, but he has been around long enough to know that international cricket is not about having one good series.

''It's about being consistent and putting performances on the board game after game. The Indian Test series was great. It had been a long time between drinks since I'd had a series like that, and to come out of that and play well in the games I played for Tassie was satisfying," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying.

"To know the hard work I've been doing is paying off is satisfying as well. That's what this week's all about now, making sure I get that preparation spot on and am ready to go for the three-day game, get something out of that which I can then take into the Test matches," he added.

It would be the first time since Ponting's previous 57 series that he would enter this campaign against the Windies as a Test specialist due to his discarding from the 50-over side in February.