Ponting confirmed the anticipated news of his resignation at a news conference this morning.

He is Test cricket's most successful captain of all-time and Australia's most prolific run-scorer.

When he was announcing his decision to step down, he fielded many questions about his Ashes losses.

He defended saying "I know myself, my team-mates and everyone at Cricket Australia knows what I've been able to achieve in the game and that's what I'm very proud of. The things that I've been able to achieve as a captain and as a player and with the players that I've played with are memories that I'll never forget."

Ponting said: "I'd like to think that through my playing time I've achieved a whole lot more than that. Whether that be as a player or as a captain of this side. It's funny how we talk about losing the Ashes three times”.

He recalled his life journey saying, "Playing in three World Cup-winning teams never comes up very often, winning 16 consecutive Test matches doesn't come up very often. Winning 30-odd consecutive World Cup games doesn't come up very often but that's the world we live in”.

Ponting spent nine years as one-day captain and seven years as Test skipper.

He said: "I've had the chance to think long and hard about it and today I've decided to stand down as captain of the test team and the one-day team as of now. 

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