Ponting dismisses retirement talk

Cricket: Australia captain Ricky Ponting insists he has no plans to retire after the World Cup.

Cricket:Australia captain Ricky Ponting insists he has no plans to retire after the World Cup.

The 36-year-old told a news conference on the eve of Australia's quarter-final against co-hosts India that he wants to continue playing both Test and one-day international cricket.

"I don't see the finish line, I want to keep playing both forms of the game as long as I think I can contribute," Ponting, his country's all-time leading run-scorer in ODIs, said. "Nothing's changed for me in the past 12 months. I've said all along, every time I've been asked about retirement, I'm enjoying my cricket as much as ever.

"I've never, ever thought about retirement or where the finish line might be. I've been trying to prepare myself as best I can as a player and lead the side as well as possible.

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"For some reason, these retirement things keep popping up all the time."

Ponting admitted he had looked into the possibility of playing county cricket in England, but claimed that would not be happening this year.

"I actually looked at trying to play some county cricket before the Sri Lanka tour (in August) this year for the fact that I will be coming off three months of no cricket and I thought we were going straight into Test matches," Ponting said. "That's why my management had a look around a few of the counties, to see if they were interested.

"As it worked out our programmes just didn't line up...I certainly won't be going there (England) to play this year."