Melbourne, Dec. 4 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has said that he has no plans to reduce his ODI appearances to prolong his Test career.

He said he wanted to play as much international cricket as he could, and enjoyed the challenge of leading Australia through their transitional phase following the exodus of retirees.

Ponting assumed the Test captaincy in early 2004, and on Thursday gave the impression he wanted to double the length of his reign, even though his predecessors Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor lasted only five years each.

"The previous captains before me probably came into the job a bit later in their careers than me as well," Fox Sports quoted him, as saying.

"I''m 33 now and have been in the job five years and Stephen didn''t come into the job until he was around my age (now), so by the time those five years are up he was 38 and getting towards the end of his career anyway. I certainly don''t feel that I am anywhere near the end of my career or near at the end of my career with the captaincy of the side either," he added.

If Ponting plays for another five years, a host of records will be within his grasp. He could conceivably overtake the Test run-scoring (12,273) and century (40) records held by Sachin Tendulkar, play more matches than Waugh (168) and overtake Allan Border (93) as the most prolific captain.

Ponting has scored 10,465 runs and 36 hundreds from 125 matches, and led Australia in 50 Tests. (ANI)