Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting picked up his domestic cricketer of the year award on Wednesday and quickly batted away speculation about a return to the beleaguered Test team for the Ashes.
Ponting led the Sheffield Shield with 875 runs at an average of 87.50, including an unbeaten 200 in a recent match. Tasmania will host the first-class final beginning Friday against Queensland.
“I haven’t had the phone call yet,” Ponting joked.
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“International cricket has long passed me by and I’ve just been really excited about giving back to Tasmanian cricket whatever I could for this season.
“The decision you make to retire, when you do, is a very big one. I know I put a lot of time and thought into making the decision that I made for all the right reasons.”
Ponting signed a two-month contract with English county Surrey and will be in England when Australia builds up for the Ashes series later this year. He will also play for Mumbai in the Indian Premier League this year.
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Ponting scored 13,378 runs in 168 Tests at an average of 51.85. He is second on the all-time Test run-scorers’ list behind Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid was placed third.
Correction
This story was corrected for a factual error on March 20, 2013