ADELAIDE, Australia (CMC) — Fast bowler Kemar Roach has caught the attention of Australia captain Ricky Ponting who says the rookie pacer will be the one to watch in the final Test in Perth starting next week.

“He will be a handful in Perth. As you can see every spell he’s bowled, almost every ball he’s bowled, he has been hovering around the 150km/h, and we knew he was capable of that,” Ponting told reporters following the drawn Test here Tuesday.

“He’s probably hit his areas really well, he hasn’t sprayed the ball around too much so he’s bowling well for them at the moment.

“We talk about how Perth will aid his style of bowling, but interestingly enough I think these sort of conditions here (Adelaide) aid his style of bowling as well.”

The 21-year-old Roach left tongues wagging for the second successive Test, bowling with sustained pace and unerring accuracy to trouble all the Aussie batsmen.

On his first tour Down Under, he claimed three for 93 in the first innings, including the wicket of Ponting, as Australia were limited to 439 all out in response to the visitors’ 451.

And though he finished without success in the second innings as Australia struggled in their run chase, Roach again bowled impressively and proved a handful for

the Aussies.

“Someone who is pretty short that’s at that sort of pace can get the ball to skid on to you pretty quickly off the wicket with not much bounce,” said Ponting, who has yet to fire in the series.

“So at the end of the day we’ve actually played him pretty well here but he is a handful, there’s no doubt about it. He could be someone who could play a fair bit of Test cricket for them in the future.

“Anyone who is bowling that sort of pace will trouble any batters, especially later in the game when the bounce gets a little bit variable. That’s probably when you’re at the most vulnerable against guys of that sort of pace.”

Roach made his Test debut against Bangladesh earlier this year and has so far captured 17 wickets in his four Tests to date.