Ricky Ponting to play on

Ricky Ponting will no longer play limited overs cricket for Australia but remains available for selection in the Test arena.

The 37-year-old told a press conference he was no longer in Cricket Australia's plans for one-day or Twenty20 cricket.

Ponting said he was looking forward to playing shield games for Tasmania and hoped to make the Australian Test team set the face the West Indies in April.

"I've been dropped from the one-day international team which I'm disappointed about, but life goes on for me," Ponting said.

"My form over the last five games hasn't warranted my selection in the team."

Ponting's exclusion came despite leading Australia as stand-in skipper in its past two one-day internationals, but the Tasmanian admits his form made it hard for selectors to pick him.

"If I'd have scored runs in these five games, obviously I wouldn't have been dropped."

"The reason I'm disappointment about getting dropped is how much I love playing for my country."

Previously, national selector John Inverarity said it was unlikely Ponting would be able to force his way back into the one-day set-up given the need to prepare the squad ahead of the 2015 World Cup.

But he hoped the Tasmanian would continue his Test career after the batsman's stunning return to form in this summer's 4-0 Test whitewash of India.

In that series Ponting scored 544 runs in four Tests, including two centuries, three 50s averaging over 100.

"He made a double century in his last Test match and we are hoping that he remains available for Test match cricket, but there can be no guarantees in elite sport and in the Australian cricket team," Inverarity said on Monday.

"If he drops out of the ODI team then there's a possible lack of momentum there.

"There are three Test matches in the West Indies (in April), then as I understand it there are no more Test matches until October or November."

Ponting's 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03 in 375 ODIs ranks second only to Sachin Tendulkar, while his 13,200 runs over 162 Tests makes him the third highest run scorer in Test history.

Inverarity described Ponting as a gem of a human being, and said the Tasmanian took the news of his dumping "on the chin".

But he added the decision to axe Australia's finest player since Don Bradman was a unanimous one.

"You don't put your heart to one side, but the head has got to dominate," Inverarity said of Ponting, who captained Australia to World Cup crowns in 2003 and 2007.

"In elite sport, there's no place for sentiment."

In other big team news, Inverarity confirmed Matthew Wade had officially taken over from Brad Haddin as Australia's preferred ODI wicket-keeper.

Meanwhile, skipper Michael Clarke is on track to make his return from a hamstring injury against Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval on Friday after being named in Australia's 13-man squad.

But fit-again allrounder Shane Watson, who also earned inclusion, is more likely to return against India in Sydney on Sunday.