Ricky Ponting has quit as Australia's cricket captain.
Ponting has relinquished his one-day and Test captaincy roles with his deputy Michael Clarke tipped to take over.
The 36-year-old made the announcement at the Sydney Cricket Ground at 1pm today.
"I thought the timing was spot on," Ponting said.
Ponting said Australia's exit in the quarter-finals of the World Cup last week prompted his decision to stand aside.
"The fact that we went out of the World Cup when we did was the main reason," Ponting said, while denying he had been tapped on the shoulder by anyone at Cricket Australia.
Ponting said he wants to remain in both the one-day and Test sides as a batsman.
"I've made it very clear to the selectors that I'm still available in both forms of the game," he said.
Not a great captaincy, one with few highs and lots of lows.
The question is ...Who next to take charge?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
It's a sad reflection of today's game that captains are expected to be leaders, but also to have touchy feely "person skills."
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
