MELBOURNE (AFP)
Ricky Ponting has been named as Steve Waugh's successor as Australia's one-day cricket captain. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said Adam Gilchrist would be Ponting's deputy for the one-day series of matches in South Africa and Zimbabwe over the next couple of months.

"When I got the call I was absolutely over the moon," said Ponting. "It is a honour to be passed down this job as Australian captain."

"It was a fairly restless night. Each of the candidates [Ponting, Gilchrist and Shane Warne] knew we were going to get a call at sometime this morning and, of the three, I thought I was the least likely.

"Gilly [Gilchrist] has been around and has been vice-captain for a number of years and done a fantastic job and I thought he would slip into the captain's job. Luckily, it's me."

Ponting will take over on March 22 when Australia plays the first of seven one-day internationals against South Africa before heading to Zimbabwe for another three limited-over matches. He has served a long apprenticeship, which hasn't been without its problems, including a drunken incident in a Sydney nightspot after a day-night match four seasons ago.

But Ponting insisted he had since matured as a person and a cricketer and would have the respect of his teammates after 131 one-day matches and 53 Tests. "That's the relationship I would like to have. As this tour goes on we'll sit down and hopefully have a chat with Stephen [Waugh] and Buck [coach John Buchanan] and the other senior players to find out where we're heading."

Ponting was not in favour of any major changes after Australia failed to make the finals of its home triangular series against South Africa and New Zealand this month.

"[We have to improve] the standard of our play. There is nothing wrong in our side and as a captain you're judged by how many wins you get out of the side you've got on the park," Ponting said. "I think we should be winning a lot more games than we lose.

"I think pretty well about the game and understand it pretty well. The last couple of years I think I've matured a lot as a cricketer and as a person so everyone around recognises and notices that."

While Ponting's star was on the rise, Warne's appeared on the wane. Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chairman Bob Merriman confirmed that Warne had not been considered for the captaincy.

"That's probably not appropriate for me to go into the areas where the selectors have their views and the reasons that they did it," Merriman said, " but as far as the directors were concerned, Shane was not in the frame at all and was not in the discussion."

Warne led Australia to 10 wins in his 11-match stint as one-day captain, but off-field incidents have damaged his reputation.

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