Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has turned down England’s White Ball Coaching Role stating it will be difficult to take up an international job at this stage of his life. The Tasmanian added that he had commitments like commentating and wanted to balance them with family time.
After Matthew Mott stepped down from England White-ball coach, the England management is hunting for his successor. The 49-year-old Aussie doesn’t have international coaching experience but he has vastly accomplished when it comes to franchise cricket notably working with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Washington Freedom.
While asked about considering England’s White-ball coach, Ponting refused with absolute thought. “No, I wouldn’t ever consider doing that. 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.”
After England’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2022, England suffered a group-stage exit in the 2023 ODI World Cup and a semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup 2024. Ponting asserted that he currently wants to concentrate on Franchise coaching and commentating jobs.
“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.”
England‘s next White-ball assignment will be against Australia starting on September 11 at The Ageas Bowl.
