Ponting's fate a product of his choosing

Ricky Ponting chose this fate. At any time since relinquishing the Test captaincy almost a year ago, he could have announced his own retirement, as a Test player, or one-day player, or both. He decided to persevere until the selectors dropped him. Now they have," writes Greg Baum in the Sydney Morning Herald.

In the Age, Chloe Saltau writes: " ... the most compelling reason for Ponting to stay on is that the batsmen on the fringe of the Test team are not presenting irresistable cases to push him out of it. Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja have both taken significant steps backwards this summer, and Shaun Marsh did not cope with the blowtorch that settled on him in his first summer as a Test batsman, in the position that Ponting has owned for the bulk of 162-Test career."