Ponting batted against a bowling machine in the indoor nets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before heading outside to face some throw-downs from coach Tim Nielsen and also face some of the net bowlers.
He showed no signs of discomfort despite fracturing his left little finger while fielding in the slips during last week's win over England in the third Test in Perth.
The five-Test series is even at 1-1, with England able to clinch a successful Ashes defense by winning in Melbourne or Sydney. The first Test in Brisbane was drawn, England won the second in Adelaide by an innings and 71 runs and Australia took the Perth Test by 267 runs.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said he was confident of attracting a world-record crowd of 91,000 for Sunday's first day of play.
Vice captain Michael Clarke said Ponting told him he was pleased with how Friday's session went.
“He said it felt pretty good after facing some balls on the machines and facing the bowlers (in the nets),” Clarke said. “We're all hopeful and confident. Unless they cut his finger off, it's going to be really hard to leave Punter (Ponting) out.” “He's going to have to wait until tomorrow to see how it pulls up after having a bat today. But he's pretty happy with how things went.”
Uncapped New South Wales state player Usman Khawaja is on standby for Ponting, who will not be able to take up his regular fielding spot in the slips if he does play.
Ponting has struggled in this Ashes series and could be the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes series three times.
However, Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said Ponting played a key role in rallying the side for its confidence-boosting win in Perth last week, despite Clarke taking the field as skipper on the fifth day when an injured Ponting sat in the pavilion.
“He's our leader and we get a lot of inspiration from him,” Haddin said. “You just have to see the turnaround we had from Adelaide to Perth to see the effect he has on the cricket team.” England hasn't won an Ashes series in Australia since 1986-87, but England batsman Kevin Pietersen said his side remains confident.
“I just think we've got a wonderful opportunity to do something that hasn't been done for 25 years,” Pietersen said. “That's driving us all on to do something amazing.” England captain Andrew Strauss said his side would not be playing for a draw in either Test.
“We've got two Test matches to go and we want to win them both - it is as simple as that,” Strauss told Britain's Press Association. “We're going for the outright win, absolutely.
“The majority of Test matches aren't drawn, so there are going to be results in these last two games, and we want to make them both positive for us.” Strauss said he felt England pace bowler James Anderson, suffering from side stiffness, would be OK for Melbourne.
“Jimmy seems absolutely fine,” Strauss said. “He's done quite a lot of bowling, but it has settled down nicely.” Umpires for the pivotal fourth Test are Aleem Dar of Pakistan and Tony Hill of New Zealand. Marais Erasmus of South Africa is the television umpire and Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka the match referee.
Teams (from):
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Usman Khawaja.
England: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alistair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Iain Bell, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Ajmal Shahzad, Steve Finn.
