RETIRING Tasmanian coach Tim Coyle believes Ricky Ponting's decision to join English county Surrey later this year could indicate that he intends to play another season for his home state.
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Australia's all-time leading run-scorer is remaining tight-lipped about his plans for next season, but putting his hand up for both county cricket and the Indian Premier League may suggest Tasmania will get another season out of a player averaging 111.83 in the Sheffield Shield this year.
``It might be all about him thinking about next year,'' Coyle said.
?``I think as you get to that sort of age, doing preseasons and stuff that we have to do, he does find that hard and maybe part of his thinking is: if I'm going to play on, I need to keep myself ticking over in the wintertime. I don't need to ?be running laps of the oval _I need to keep playing.''
Ponting, who ended his 17-year 168-match Test career in December, has signed a deal to play for Surrey in June and July while the county's skipper, ?Graeme Smith, is on duty with South Africa.
It is the first time the 38-year-old has played county cricket since a brief stint with Somerset in 2004 and follows his decision to ?lead the Mumbai Indians in this year's Indian Premier League.
``The IPL has never been on his radar but it tends to pop on your radar when they start telling you what it's worth!'' Coyle joked.
``To me, that's an indication that he wants to keep playing and if that's true, that's a tremendous result for Tasmania.''
With two Sheffield Shield matches plus a potential final remaining before Coyle ends his eight-year trophy-laden spell in charge, Cricket Tasmania is interviewing for his replacement.
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