Ponting admits ODI career over but no message retirement

Australia's two-time World Cup winning cricket captain Ricky Ponting today conceded that his one-day career is over but stopped short of announcing a formal retirement from the format. The 37-year-old announced his decision at a press conference here, a day after he was dropped from Australia's one-day squad but said he would continue to play in the Test version of the game.

"I will continue playing Test cricket and I'll continue playing for Tasmania as well. "I think I proved to everyone and myself that I am still capable of dominating Test cricket as I did in the last Test series against India," Ponting told a news conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Although Ponting has not stated categorically that he was retiring from the one-dayers, he conceded that he had been informed by national selector John Inverarity that he did not fit into the selectors' plans in the 50-over format as they build towards the 2015 World Cup.

"John (Inverarity) made it very clear to me yesterday the direction that they're heading with the one-day team and that I'm not part of their plans," said Ponting. "It's a little bit hard to come here today and say I'm retiring when I've already been left out of the side. I don't expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I'm pretty sure the selectors don't expect to pick me either. I have no bitterness at all about what's happened.

"I totally understand the reasons why and the national selectors are looking forward to building a team for the next World Cup of which I am not part of their plans going forward," he added. His one-day sacking came in less than a month after a superb performance in Australia's 4-0 clean sweep of the home Test series against India, where he scored 544 runs at an average of 108.80 with two centuries and three fifties.