Ricky Ponting. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Matthew Mott resigned as England’s white-ball head coach after the team failed to qualify for the finals of the T20 World Cup 2024. Since his resignation, a lot of names have been discussed for the role, including that of Freddie Flintoff, Kumar Sangakkara, Andy Flower and Ricky Ponting. Out of which, Sangakkara previously confirmed that ECB hasn’t reached out to him while the rumours regarding Flintoff have died down.
Now, Ponting has ruled himself out of the race. The former Australia captain confirmed that he is not interested in taking any international offers at the moment. The 49-year-old recently parted ways with Delhi Capitals and is available on a full-time basis but Ponting noted that he has TV work and also wants to spend more time at home, which is why he won’t be taking up any international offers.
The former cricketer also stated that being an Australian, it would be a bit weird for him to coach England. He eventually advised ECB to cut off his name if it was on the list.
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“No, I wouldn’t ever consider doing that actually. I’m on record saying that international jobs for me right now are not really where my life is at as there’s just so much more time taken up with an international job. I’ve got other commitments as well, with my TV work and things that I do and also trying to balance that out with having a decent amount of home time, which I haven’t had much of the last couple of years anyway,” Ponting said in the recent episode of the ICC review.
“Coaching other international teams is one thing, coaching England for an Australian is probably something slightly different, but right now there’s sort of enough on my plate as I’ve got a bit more coming up in the next couple of months in the UK. Australia’s got some white-ball stuff coming up over there which I’ll go and commentate, so no, right now if my name was on the list they can actually take it off,” he added.
Ponting previously revealed that BCCI had reached out to him with the offer to take over the charge of the Indian team after Rahul Dravid’s tenure. However, the legendary cricketer denied the offer as even then he was not interested in international jobs.