PONTING OUT OF T20 SQUAD

Ponting is left out of the t20 squad against England. Michael Clarke will take over as captain of Australia's Twenty20 team to play England after Ricky Ponting was given permission to go home after the last Ashes test. Ponting will return to Britain to take charge for the bulk of one-day international series but the selectors wanted to give him a rest as they start blooding younger players for next year's Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies.

Clarke's promotion is a further sign that he is being groomed to eventually replace Ponting as test skipper. Clarke is the current vice-captain of the test side and has been Australia's best batsmen this year, scoring two hundreds and averaging 89 in the Ashes. The selectors named separate squads for the Twenty20 matches and one-day internationals as part of their building process for the West Indies next year. Promising opener Phillip Hughes and paceman Stuart Clark failed to make either side while batsman Mike Hussey and pace bowlers Peter Siddle and Nathan Bracken made the one-day side but not the Twenty20.