Ponting dropped from Australia\'s ODI team

Former captain Ricky Ponting was dropped from Australia's team for the tri one-day series against India and Sri Lanka, according to selectors. Chief selector John Inverarity said Ponting, the second all-time leading runscorer in ODIs, was axed because of his poor batting form and likely ending his 17-year one-day international career. Ponting, 37, said earlier that he wanted to battle through his current batting slump after scoring just 18 runs in five knocks in the tri-series for a meagre average of 3.60. But selectors moved on Ponting as they announced a 13-man squad for Australia's next two tri-series ODIs against Sri Lanka in Hobart on Friday and India in Sydney next Sunday. Questions had been raised about Ponting continuing on in the Australia team following his lean run in the tri-series where he had failed to reach double figures in any of his innings. Ponting had captained Australia in their last two ODIs in the injury absence of Michael Clarke, who returns from a strained hamstring to again take over the captaincy. "Ricky Ponting has been dropped from the squad due to his lack of form in the five tri-series matches to date," Inverarity said in announcing the squad. "The team will not seem the same without him, but moving on from the omission of players who have been outstanding over a long period of time is the nature of elite sport."  Ponting ranks second only to Sachin Tendulkar with most ODI runs (13,704) from 375 matches, while he has played 162 Tests. "Ricky’s record speaks for itself," Inverarity said. "He is one of the truly great performers in the history of Australian ODI cricket, with his reputation enhanced further by him captaining Australia to two World Cup victories."