Ponting goes out kicking and screaming
Ricky Ponting says he wants to continue playing Test cricket and that he feels he can continue to contribute to the success of the team
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting says he wants to continue playing Test cricket and that he feels he can continue to contribute to the success of the team. I believe he can, as he proved recently in the Test series against India, but I also believe it will be the selectors again who will have to call a halt to his Test career when the time comes, writes Michael Slater for Wide World of Sport.
There has been plenty said about the way Ponting's one-day career has ended so seemingly abruptly. If I was one of the selectors I would have gone to Ponting the day before he was dropped and suggested that he take the opportunity to announce his retirement, in exchange for a final farewell game at Bellerive Oval in front of his adoring home crowd.
Knowing Ponting he would have looked me squarely in the eye and told me that he wanted to continue playing. If the selectors wanted to end his career, then the blood would have to be on their hands. For all I know that very scenario may have occurred. The point is he was never going to retire while he still had the passion to train and play at the highest level.
In the Hindu, Greg Chappell writes: Readers in India might find it hard to believe that the selectors have called stumps on the ODI career of one of Australia's most decorated players. The outpouring of emotion in Australia will be noteworthy, but restrained, compared to what I imagine would happen in India if the same fate befell Sachin Tendulkar.
One of the great strengths of Australian cricket is that we have a robust, and transparent, selection system. The National Selection Panel is independent and appointed by the Board and is not subject to interference. John Inverarity and his panel have been vested with the authority to make decisions of this magnitude.
At some stage in every great player's career, the selectors will have to decide whether giving the champion a few more innings is a better return on investment than giving the next potential champion a start in his career. If it is not, then the tough call must be made.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo