Why Ponting gave T20 a miss

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that his desire to play the World Cup in 2011 and to prolong his Test career were two key reasons for giving a miss to international Twenty20 cricket.

Ponting, who is playing his 334th one-day international, the most by an Australian, as his high-flying team is meeting Pakistan at the WACA Ground on Friday, said: ''I'd be lying if I said we weren't already looking towards the World Cup.''

''It's important that you start planning a long way out. The standards we've set in our last few tournaments have been very, very high, and it's important you get some experience into some players you might need in a tournament like that. We're definitely on the right track. I have some of my fondest memories out of the game from winning World Cups - and I want to get some more,'' he added.

''I didn't retire from Twenty20 because I thought I was better at one-dayers or anything like that. The way the schedule is, there's a lot more international one-day cricket on, so by missing the T20s, it gives me another two or three weeks off a year but I still don't really miss out on many games for Australia," Ponting said.

''The World Cup is the big thing. I'm proud of what Australia has achieved there and, outside of Tests, that's what I'm really looking towards. Fifty-over cricket is a wonderful game, and the pinnacle of the shorter game is the World Cup, which I have been lucky enough to play a few of. I'm looking forward to playing another one and seeing if we can be successful again,'' he added.