Ricky Ponting is keen to hear Michael Clarke's tactical ideas © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting believes Michael Clarke is the obvious candidate to be Australia's next captain but he says Clarke does not need to be thrown into official on-field leadership roles yet. John Buchanan, the team's former coach, said Clarke should be given a chance to captain New South Wales or stand in when Ponting and Adam Gilchrist are unavailable in the national side to help him develop his leadership skills.

Ponting, who turns 33 in December, wants to play until at least the next World Cup, meaning Clarke has plenty of time to prepare for the possibility of succeeding Ponting. "I am not going to be around forever, Gilly is not going to be around forever, we have to start building the next generation of leaders around the team and he (Clarke) is the obvious choice," Ponting told the Herald Sun.

"I don't think it's 100% that he needs to captain New South Wales but I was lucky the year before I got the Australian one-day captaincy that I had a year captaining Tassie as well. I got a little bit of experience under my belt.

"The important thing, and I was taught this as a young bloke, is when you are out on the field, you try and think as a captain and as a leader. Hopefully, I will create an environment that is good enough for those guys; if they have got an idea or a suggestion, they come running to me straight away. And he (Clarke) has generally got a few of them. Generally they are pretty close to the mark."

Clarke said he would love to be given more leadership roles within the Australia team but for now he was concentrating solely on retaining his place in the Test side. "Not much would change for me really, I'd still be myself [as captain]," Clarke said in the Courier-Mail.

"But that's in the future. I know how important it is for me to concentrate on scoring runs this summer and cementing my spot in that Test team. I know what it's like to be dropped from the Test side - when you take your eye off the ball you end up back in first-class cricket or back in grade cricket."