RICKY PONTING yesterday brought down the curtain on his spell as Australia captain amid a chorus of acclaim.

Ponting, who intends to carry on as a player under his successor, bows out having won 48 of 77 Tests in charge.

He also led his country to two World Cup titles.

His critics point to his record as the only Australia captain to suffer three Ashes defeats but there was little in the way of recrimination yesterday with Allan Border leading the tributes.

“I fully support Ricky Ponting’s decision to relinquish the captaincy of the Test and one-day sides – and I don’t think it will be an issue at all if he continues to play as a batsman under Michael Clarke or another captain’s leadership,” said Border, who also held the post between 1984 and 1994.

“Despite stepping down as skipper, I think he still has to be in the side.

“He is still in the top six batsmen in the country and showed in the World Cup quarter-final against India that he still has what it takes to play at international level, so I don’t think that should be debated.”

Former Australia teammate Mark Waugh believes Ponting will go down as “one of Australia’s great captains”.

He said: “His record as captain is very good.

“His winning ratio is extremely high. Statistically he’s going to go down as one of Australia’s great captains, there’s no doubt about it.”

Ponting, 36, hopes to retain his place in a squad which is likely to undergo some rebuilding following the recent series loss to England and their World Cup exit at the quarter-final stage against India, and has also targeted Ashes redemption in two years’ time.

“I think it’ll keep me a bit mentally fresher than I have been in the last couple of years,” he said of the prospect of being involved in the 2013 series in England.

“And I think that if I’m mentally fresh and have got my skills in reasonable order then I’ll be able to certainly bat better than I have in the past six months.

“So I won’t ever write that off because I’d love to go back there again and give it a crack at winning another Ashes series in England, but we’ll wait and see how my form is in the immediate future.”

Ponting, who has backed Michael Clarke to take on the leadership role in the wake of his departure, defended his record as skipper and criticised the media’s fixation on those three Ashes defeats.

“I’d like to think that through my playing time I’ve achieved a whole lot more than that,” said Australia’s most prolific run-scorer, who steps down after nine years as one-day captain and seven years as Test skipper.

“It’s funny how we talk about losing the Ashes three times.

“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.

‘‘I know within myself and my team-mates know 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.”

Ponting, who led the team in 228 one-day internationals and had a winning record of 76.38 per cent, stressed he had not been pushed to resign.

“I’ve had no tap on the shoulder from anybody,” he said. “This has been a decision made by me.”