Ricky Ponting will retire from all forms of cricket in October
Ricky Ponting, the second highest Test run scorer of all time, will retire from all forms of cricket in October.
The former Australia captain, playing for Surrey until the end of July, quit international cricket in November 2012.
Ponting, 38, will end his career after appearing for Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians in the Champions League, which ends on 6 October.
"While I'm enjoying my cricket as much as ever, it just feels like the right time to finish playing," said Ponting.
"My body and mind are in great shape and I know I'm going to really enjoy these last few months before the next stage of life begins."
Ponting made his first-class debut for his native Tasmania in 1992/93, and broke into Australia's one-day side against South Africa in February 1995.
He scored 96 against Sri Lanka in Perth the following November in the first of his 168 Tests, an Australian record he holds jointly with Steve Waugh.
A total of 13,378 runs at an average of 52.21 saw Ponting retire as the second-highest run scorer in Test history behind Sachin Tendulkar.
The Tasmanian also played 375 one-day internationals, leading Australia to victory at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, and 17 Twenty20 matches.
Ponting led Australia to 48 wins out of his 77 Tests as captain, but he also became the first captain to lose three Ashes series.
England's 2-1 series win in 2005 was followed by Australia's 5-0 whitewash in 2006-07, but two more Ashes defeats followed in 2009 and 2010-11, and Pontinggave up the Australian captaincy after a World Cup quarter-final defeat to India in March 2011.
Australia batsman Chris Rogers, recalled to the Test squad for this summer's Ashes,paid tribute to Ponting, captain when Rogers won his one Test cap in 2008.
"He was one of the best, if not the best," declared Rogers.
"He set standards that the rest of us have to follow so to play against him this year, and watch him dominate, showed what a fabulous player he is. I have nothing but huge respect for him."
Following his international retirement, Ponting was part of the Tasmania side that won the state's third Sheffield Shield in March before joining up with Surrey for the English season.
Ponting made 192 on his Surrey debut in June, and after his contract ends in late July he will play for the Antigua Hawksbills in the first Caribbean Premier League.
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