Ricky Ponting says decision on retaining captaincy not his to make

Ricky Ponting has said that his future as Australian Test skipper is now out of his hands after a dreadful run of results have left his team on the verge of an embarrassing Ashes defeat.

"Probably not a decision for me to make, is it?" Ponting replied when asked if he could stay on as skipper if England won in Perth and reclaimed the Ashes.

Fox Sports further quoted him as saying: "I don't pick myself as captain so, look, in all honestly I haven't thought about that at all. As I said, the decision's completely out of my hands.

"At the end of the day, I'll do my best to make sure we're on a winning end this week and I'll do my best as a player to make sure I score runs and lead the team the best way possible,” he added.

"And then the powers that be will make those decisions I guess at the end of the series, or after this Test match," he said.

Ponting's captaincy has come under increasing pressure in recent times, with his lean run with the bat in Australia's flailing Ashes campaign and four loses and a draw from the past five Tests only fuelling talk he could be dumped from the top job before he has a chance to walk away.

The 36-year-old, would become the first Australia captain in 120 years to lose the urn three times if England win in Perth to claim an unassailable 2-0 series win.