Olympics

Ricky Ponting is hoping he can help pass on a legacy of Olympics involvement to future generations of cricketers.

The Australia captain has joined what appears to be a concerted push in his sport to try to ensure Twenty20 cricket is included in the Olympics programme in time for the 2020 Games.

Ponting acknowledges his time as an international player will be gone by then - but that has not stopped him visualising an experience he believes could become reality for those who succeed him in Australia and elsewhere.

Echoing the ambitions expressed by a chorus of high-profile cricketers from Australia, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand - also joined on Wednesday by South Africa captain Graeme Smith - Ponting told he Australian newspaper: "I would love to be marching into the Olympic Stadium in Beijing during tomorrow night's opening ceremony.

"It would be amazing to be centre stage at the Olympic Games when you have the eyes of the world looking at everything you do.

"Having spent a lifetime in sport, I could not think of anything better or more exciting than cricket being part of the Olympics."

Ponting agrees with others - among them, former Test captains Sourav Ganguly, Stephen Fleming and Steve Waugh - that the bite-size format of Twenty20 cricket makes it entirely appropriate for inclusion in the Olympics.

With the International Cricket Council considering further representation to the International Olympic Committee for a Games Twenty20 by 2020, Ponting sees it as a no-lose situation for both parties - with the potential to unleash renewed interest in the spectacle from the huge cricket-supporting public of the Indian sub-continent.

"With the explosion of the short and exciting Twenty20 over the past year, particularly in India, cricket now has the perfect vehicle to be part of the Games," he said.

"I know my time will be well and truly past if it was to happen. It's probably a couple of generations of players away.

"But the fact that teams from Australia or India or China or the US could be playing cricket in the Olympic Games is an awesome thought.

"Just imagine what having cricket in the Olympics would do for the game globally - and imagine the extra following cricket could bring to the Games."

Smith, meanwhile, was asked about the feasibility of Twenty20 cricket at the Olympics - and like so many others over the past two days, he appears enthusiastic.

"From a player's perspective, it would obviously be a fantastic thing to be part of an Olympic Games," he said.

"We've always just watched from the side and seen how special the event is.

"Twenty20 offers the opportunity (for cricket) to become an Olympic event. It's not only going to grow the game around the world, but it will be nice for us as players to be part of a special event."