Ponting must go on his own terms

Australia's formidable record in World Cups ended against India but calling for Ricky Ponting's head is a bit premature.

There are only three options: for him to remain as captain, to resign and continue only as a player, or no more Ricky Ponting.

One thing is certain, Ricky deserves to go out in the manner of his own choosing and I would wait a while for the dust to settle before deciding. He will want to discuss it with the players and the people he respects. Only Ricky Ponting knows what that answer will be.

When you are in the middle of a series or tournament, surrounded by players you never look at it with an outsider's view. You don't listen to the media.

The only factors to concentrate on are your own form and game. That is not to say retirement is not at the back of your mind. There are moments when you think about what is the right thing to do and you want to go out on your own terms and on a high.

Instinct

That will be uppermost in Ricky's thoughts. He has been around long enough and will have an instinct about what to do.

But there are two factors — the heart and mind. If both are saying the same thing then it is easy to make the right decision. If he has conflict, that is when he will need to sit back and take stock to work out what is the best way forward.

As a player your main concern is that you must be good enough to be picked in the team on performance. Then it is about whether you have the energy, drive and patience to put in the work and amount of time required to stay at the top.

One question you need to ask yourself whatever you are doing in life is ‘am I enjoying myself?'. If you are not enjoying what you are doing it is time to do something else. If the answer is ‘yes' and it still feels like you can perform and have something to offer then there is no reason to go anywhere.

Not easy

When you retire as a player who has achieved and been one of the greats like Ricky, it is not easy to let go of something that has been your life for 15 years.

The reason I retired is because the enjoyment stopped. It was not just about playing cricket. It was about time away from family, friends and living a certain lifestyle after 20 years of first-class cricket.

I was not prepared to put in the hours of sponsors' appearances, scrutiny and judgment or getting up to play when your body is hurting and sore.

Anyone who plays cricket at any level probably thinks ‘how can you not enjoy it?' Playing cricket for Australia should be fun but if it becomes a grind and you don't want to go to work, because that is the way you suddenly see it, then it is time to do something different.

A lot of great players do not go out on their own terms. That leads to a bit of regret and frustration. But when people go out on top there is satisfaction and the best piece of advice I received when thinking about retirement came from Ian Chappell. His words were: "The only hint I will give you is to make sure they say to you ‘why are you retiring?' rather than ‘why don't you retire?'." Once he said that I thought ‘yes I am doing the right thing'.

Wider debate

Ricky's future is part of a wider debate for Australian cricket. There is a bit of soul searching to be done by every player, selector, coach and Cricket Australia.

There is no disgrace losing to India in India. Their only two defeats in the World Cup were against a Pakistan team on fire and India so there is no shame in the way they played in the sub-continent and we do not need to make rash decisions.

We can wait until after the short tour of Bangladesh in early April. But if you put this World Cup performance in context of the Australian summer of losing the Ashes then soon we will have to sit down and have a good chat about the best way to regain the World number one spot.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2011