Beleaguered Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who has made just 113 runs all series, said he hoped to lead his side in Sydney as talk over his future builds, but admitted it may not be his decision to make.

"Absolutely I still want to be captain," he told Test Match Special. "I still feel I have a whole lot to offer the team as far as batting and leadership is concerned.

"It's not a decision for me to make. I could step down but I don't have a decision to stay on. The powers that be will make that decision.

"If I have a decision to make it has to be right for Australian cricket and not for me."

Ponting also admitted that his form had been a critical reason behind his side's troubles.

"My series has been horrible," he said. "That's a big reason why we've been in this position. We've all tried and you do the best you can, sometimes it's good enough.

"We're disappointed and we've been beaten easily. We now can't win the Ashes and no-one is more disappointed than me.

"We weren't good enough, they simply outplayed us."

Ponting, who has had another x-ray on the broken finger that had threatened to rule him out of this game, added: "I don't know (about my fitness). The plan was to get through the game and have another x-ray. I've got them back, but I've not had chance to look at them with the physio yet.

"I have a bit of thinking to do. It would be nice to flick a switch and turn things around. I've tried my heart out and I understood that for us to win I had to make runs. I haven't done that."