Captain Michael Clarke says he is confident his friendship with Ricky Ponting will endure despite his role in this week’s axing of the Australian great from the one-day team, reports said Friday. The former skipper said he had been informed by selectors that he did not fit into their plans for the one-day team, but despite speculation about his future, he was not retiring from Test cricket. Clarke faced an early test of his new role on the selection panel by making the tough call to dump Ponting after 375 ODI appearances over 17 years. He said the pair would continue to work together as teammates and batting partners in the Test team, next in action in the West Indies in April. “I’m 100 percent part of the selection panel,” Clarke told newspapers Friday ahead the tri-series match against Sri Lanka in Hobart, the capital of Ponting’s home state Tasmania. “That’s now part of the captain’s job. We’ve made this decision as a panel. “It is tough not having the great Ricky Ponting out there playing for us but that’s the decision we’ve made. Obviously the 2015 World Cup is something we have spoken about as a panel. I’m 100 percent part of that.” Clarke, who took over the Test and one-day captaincy from Ponting early last year, said Ponting knew the decision to axe him was not personal. “Ricky was captain for a long time and while he wasn’t a selector
he played a big part in selecting the 11 players that took the field,” he said.
