Ponting admitted that all good runs must come to an end someday
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has announced his retirement from international cricket, stating that he had decided to make the decision for himself instead of the selectors doing so by dropping him from the national team for his poor form with the bat in the past couple of series.
Ponting informed his team-mates about the decision prior to the start of the third Test against South Africa in Perth, which coincidentally is where he made his Test debut in 1995.
“I tried to tell them a lot, but I didn’t get much out,” Ponting said. “As I said to the boys this morning, they’ve never seen me emotional, but I was this morning.”
Prior to the start of the Test series against South Africa, Ponting had hinted at being in the best form for years and even going on to play in the back-to-back Ashes series against arch-rivals England next year, but it was not to be as he could only muster scores of 0, 4, 16, 4 and 8 during the three Tests against the Proteas.
Ponting noted that his “consistent failure” was a major reason as to why he decided to retire and the former captain added that it was time to step aside and let one of the younger talents in line shine.
“It’s a decision I thought long and hard about, put in long consideration about the decision, at the end of the day it was about my results and my output in this series so far,” Ponting said. “It hasn’t been to the level required for batsmen and players in the Australian team. My level of performance hasn’t been good enough.
“I want to be a consistent performer, and if you look back over the last 12 or 18 months I haven’t been able to perform consistently. I’ve had moments of really good stuff, and prolonged moments of cricket that’s been below my expectations and below a par level for me, so there hasn’t been one dismissal or one moment, it’s just been in my own eyes reasonably consistent failure. That’s why I believe the time is right now to be making this decision.”
During the second Test at Adelaide, Ponting was clean bowled in both innings, which is only the second time in his 17-year career that has happened.
The former captain insisted that the decision had been made by himself and added that the selectors had nothing to do with it.
“I believe so, there’s been all sorts of things in the papers the last couple of days and I know certainly with my captain and my coach I couldn’t have had any more support from those guys,” Ponting said. “They’ve been the ones who’ve been most verbal about their support.
“This is not a decision that’s been made by the selectors, this a decision that’s been made by me, and I’d like to thank all those guys for the support they’ve given me over the last 12 months. There were probably moments when they thought long and hard about ending my career and I’m glad I’ve got the opportunity to finish this way and on my terms.”
Ponting’s successor as captain Michael Clarke was teary-eyed and could not even answer questions during the press conference due to the overwhelming emotion of watching his long-time friend and team-mate call it a day.
“I didn’t have a feeling it was coming,” Clarke said. “Ricky spoke to me after the Adelaide Test match and made his decision I guess over the last few days. The boys are obviously hurting at the moment. He’s been an amazing player for a long time. [Deep breath and starts to tear up]… and that’ll do me for today. Sorry, I can’t answer that.”
Ponting will still play for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League, but he still does not know what the future will hold.
“I’ve got a few months of cricket yet, which I am really looking forward to,” Ponting said. “I really enjoyed the start of this season playing cricket with Tasmania and back with some of my mates – really I place I haven’t spent a lot of time for near on the last 20 years. So I’ll enjoy that for what it is, but this is my new team here.”
When asked how he felt about his international career coming to an end, Ponting said: ” know I’ve given cricket my all, it’s been life for 20 years. Not much more I can give.”