Brisbane, May 9: Skipper Ricky Ponting, who is going through an unusually long form slump, has taken recourse to hi-tech plasma screen gadgetry in a private batting tutorial to help overcome the misery before he leaves with the Australian squad for the tour of the Caribbean.

At Brisbane`s Allan Border Field, an enormous plasma screen television was hauled into the practice net next to Ponting as he was filmed facing deliveries from a bowling machine.

The video footage was fed through the plasma screen, on a five-second delay, enabling Ponting to play a stroke and then watch it replayed immediately on TV.

Ponting, who endured a run of low scores in the summer`s one-day series and failed to fire for Kolkata in the Indian Premier League, emerged from the net session delighted, reports a newspaper.

`It`s the first time I`ve used that. It is the best little coaching session you can have,` said Ponting.

`It`s good to have a coach or someone standing by that knows your game. To have it explained to you is one thing; to see it for yourself and be able to identify yourself what you are doing during a shot is fantastic.`

Ponting said he was not worried by his form slump -- most recently he scored just 39 runs in the IPL at 9.75 -- but the plasma session was a `priceless` tool that could help him back to his devastating best.

`Sometimes you know yourself what you are doing but to put your finger right on it is a little more difficult,` Ponting said.

`With this set-up, you hit one and you give yourself time to have a look at the replay and digest it.

`It can pick up everything, head position, backlift and whatever it is you want to work on.

`I have used game footage over the years but to have it at training, especially when you are trying to get everything ticking over again, is priceless.`

While he would not admit it, Ponting`s batting was clearly affected by some of the dramas of a hostile summer against India, in which he was tested both on and off the field.

It may have been Ponting`s toughest time in cricket -- possibly even tougher than the 2005 Ashes loss -- and he even endured calls for him to be sacked as skipper.

The first of three Tests against the West Indies starts on May 23 in Kingston, Jamaica.