Michael Clarke appointed Australia Twenty20 captain

Cricket Australia (CA) announced Michael Clarke's appointment as captain of the Australia Twenty20 team. This follows Ricky Ponting's decision last month to step down from international Twenty20 cricket and concentrate on captaining Australia in the other two forms of the game. Cameron White will be Clarke's vice-captain in the Twenty20 team.

Michael Clarke said: "I've learnt a lot from Ricky Ponting over the last few years and I'll continue to learn from him. I'd like to thank Cricket Australia and the CA Board for giving me this opportunity. I'm really excited to lead Australia in the newest form of the game. We've got a young and enthusiastic group but we must recognise that we've got a lot of work to do in Twenty20 cricket and our recent form hasn't been good. Naturally, we'll target the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next year and I feel we have plenty of talent to genuinely mount a challenge in that tournament. Cameron White will be an excellent deputy and his recent form has been quite outstanding."

Ricky Ponting added: "Michael has continued to grow as a player and a leader. We have developed a strong working relationship and he has always led the team well in my absence. I am sure he will do a very good job with the Twenty20 team and I congratulate him and Cameron White on their appointments."

Cricket Australia's CEO, James Sutherland, said: "I'm delighted to be able to announce Michael Clarke as the Australia men's Twenty20 captain. Michael has supported Ricky Ponting excellently in the last couple of years and has been successful when called upon to lead the Australia ODI team on occasion, most recently in England and the UAE. Michael will be supported in the Twenty20 vice captaincy by Cameron White, whose leadership qualities have been to the fore in recent months and are currently on show at the Champions League Twenty20, where he is leading Victoria in that tournament."

Separately, Cricket Australia's Board has today re-appointed Andrew Hilditch as the Chairman of the National Selection Panel (NSP) for a period which runs until end of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011.

James Sutherland said: "Australia is a team in rebuilding phase but this country has many talented young cricketers, as illustrated by Australia's recent victory in the ICC Champions Trophy. The National Selection Panel will continue to be led by Andrew Hilditch."

Also today, former Australian cricketer Christina Matthews was appointed chairperson of the Women's National Selection Panel (WNSP), and Julie Hayes (59 ODIs and six Tests 2000-1 to 2006-7 and 127 WNCL games for NSW) joins the WNSP. Julie Savage continues as a selector on the WNSP.