Ricky Ponting opens up about future coaching ambitions as vacancy arises in England’s white-ball cricket

Australia legend Ricky Ponting has opened up about his future coaching plans after England invited applications to fill the role in their white-ball cricket. The former Aussie captain has made it clear that he is not considering becoming England's coach as he is focused on continuing in the same role in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Matthew Mott resigned as England's white-ball coach a week ago in the aftermath of England's failure to defend any of the limited-overs World Cups. It opens up a vacancy and the names of former players and top coaches, including Ponting, have already been linked with the job.

However, the former Delhi Capitals (DC) coach now leans more towards franchise cricket given the hectic schedule of international coaches. Speaking with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of The ICC Review, Ponting revealed he already has a lot of other commitments.

"No, I wouldn't ever consider doing that actually,” Ponting said when asked if he would consider the England white-ball coaching position.

“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,” he added.

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Coaching England for an Australian is slightly different: Ponting

Ponting, who led Australia to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup three times, is one of the most prolific batters in cricket history. Australia share a long-standing rivalry with England and, bearing this in mind, the 49-year-old said coaching the English team would be different from coaching any other international team.

"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,” Ponting said.

“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 signals a return to IPL

Delhi Capitals (DC) parted ways with Ponting in mid-July 2024 after a seven-year journey. The Australian helped the team reach their maiden final in 2021, but in recent years, they have failed to perform as expected. Meanwhile, the Aussie great said he would “love to coach again in the IPL”.

"I've had a great time every year that I've been involved, whether that was in the early days as a player or the couple of years I had at Mumbai as head coach there. And then I've had seven seasons at Delhi, which unfortunately didn't really work out the way that I would have wanted and certainly the way that the franchise would have wanted. I think me going there was all about trying to bring some silverware to the team and that didn't happen,” Ponting concluded.  

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