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The right-hander played four Tests against India, two against New Zealand, three against South Africa, two international Twenty20 matches and six one-day matches since October last year.
The skipper will fly to Melbourne with the squad for the Allan Border Medal on Tuesday but will head home to Sydney before the second ODI in Melbourne.
Soon after the New Zealand series, Australia will fly to South Africa for three Tests and five one-dayers.
Ponting had a major operation on his wrist after the West Indies Test series and has batted with pain during the summer, but has managed to play more cricket than almost every other senior Australian player.
Commenting on the selection of the squads, NSP Chairman Andrew Hilditch said, “The National Selection Panel has selected a squad of 13 players for the next two games. There are two changes to the squad. Shaun Marsh has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and, consistent with Cricket Australia’s policy on managing player workload, Ricky Ponting has not been named in this squad.
“Naturally, as Australian captain, Ricky is keen to play every game and these next two games were no exception,” he said.
“However, it was always planned that Ricky would have a break at this time. While this is a difficult decision for the NSP, given the current performance of the team, in our view it is essential that Ricky has an opportunity to prepare for the forthcoming South Africa tour given his immense workload since the start of the India tour in late September last year,” Hilditch added.
Squad for 2nd and 3rd ODI: Michael Clarke (captain), Michael Hussey (vice captain), Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Cameron White, Adam Voges, Callum Ferguson.
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