Ricky Ponting to retire after perth test:
As emotional as anyone has ever seen him, Ricky Ponting lost his customary composure when telling team-mates of his decision to retire from international cricket on the eve of the third Test against South Africa in Perth.
For so long the stony-faced embodiment of Australian cricket, Ponting and other members of the squad wept as they came to terms with the fact a Test career that began at the WACA ground in 1995 would end at the same ground 17 years later. "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."
If the decision drew a previously unseen well of feeling from within Ponting, its reasons were coldly logical and team-oriented. After failing twice with the bat in Adelaide and thrice in this series, having given himself the best possible lead-in via domestic cricket Ponting concluded that he was no longer good enough to perform at the level he preferred. For so long Ponting's watchword had been consistency - now he spoke ruefully of "consistent failure."
For so long the stony-faced embodiment of Australian cricket, Ponting and other members of the squad wept as they came to terms with the fact a Test career that began at the WACA ground in 1995 would end at the same ground 17 years later. "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."
If the decision drew a previously unseen well of feeling from within Ponting, its reasons were coldly logical and team-oriented. After failing twice with the bat in Adelaide and thrice in this series, having given himself the best possible lead-in via domestic cricket Ponting concluded that he was no longer good enough to perform at the level he preferred. For so long Ponting's watchword had been consistency - now he spoke ruefully of "consistent failure."
