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REUTERS
HOBART, JAN 20: Ricky Ponting was dropped from the Australian limited-overs team today after he was involved in a fight outside a nightclub in Sydney's red light district after a night of heavy drinking.
Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive Mal Speed told a news conference Ponting had been stood down from tomorrow's tri-series match against Sri Lanka while the incident was investigated.
Speed said he expected Ponting would be charged with breaching ACB's code of conduct for players.
Ponting, sporting a black eye, told the conference that the incident happened outside a popular nightclub -- Bourbon and Beefsteak -- in the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross on Monday night, but said he had no recollection of it.
He said he had been drinking heavily and the first thing he remembered was waking up in the team hotel.
``I have to admit to myself that I have a problem with alcohol at times and I intend to overcome this problem,'' he said.
Ponting, considered one of the brightest young prospects inthe game, has been widely tipped as a future Australian captain but his feats with the bat have been partly overshadowed by several off-field incidents.
He was fined by the Australian management after a fracas at a nightclub in India last year.
He has also been asked to appear before the ACB's inquiry into match-fixing after he said he had been approached by a bookmaker wanting information on the Australian team. Ponting said he rejected the bookmaker's advance.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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