Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting

Personal information
Full name	Ricky Thomas Ponting
Nickname	Punter
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Batting	Right-hand
Bowling	Right-arm medium, off-break
Role	Batsman, Captain
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 366)	8 December 1995 v Sri Lanka
Last Test	8 July 2009 v England
ODI debut (cap 123)	15 February 1995 v South Africa
Last ODI	17 April 2009 v South Africa
ODI shirt no.	14
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1993 – present	Tasmania
2004	Somerset
2008 – present	Kolkata Knight Riders
Career statistics
Competition Test ODIs FC List A Matches 132 315 231 386 Runs scored 11,110 11,523 19,807 13,862 Batting average 56.68 42.52 58.42 42.13 100s/50s 38/46 26/67 71/84 30/82 Top score 257 164 257 164 Balls bowled 539 150 1,434 349 Wickets 5 3 14 8 Bowling average 48.40 34.66 54.85 33.62 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 1/0 1/12 2/10 3/34 Catches/stumpings 148/– 137/– 237/– 169/–
Source: CricketArchive, 11 July 2009

Ricky Ponting (born 19 December 1974 in Tasmania) is a very arrogant person with beady eyes. He is also the current captain of the Australian cricket team in One Day International, Twenty20 International and Test cricket. Ponting also represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian Domestic cricket, a side he plays for intermittently due to international commitments. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional right-arm medium pace bowler.

Ponting reached international standards at a young age for a batsman, making his One Day International and Test debuts in 1995 at the age of 20. However, his progress was not unhindered. He lost his place in the team several times due to lack of form and discipline issues, before rising to the One Day International captaincy in early 2002 and becoming Test captain in early 2004. In recent years, he has been consistently ranked in the top-ten batsmen in both One Day International cricket and Test matches in the official ICC ratings, and has been ranked number one for substantial periods.

Key achievements

Ricky Ponting is considered one of the finest batsmen in the history of the game, and is currently ranked 18th in ODI's and 6th in Test Cricket. He is the only cricketer to have twice scored more than 1500 runs in Test matches in a calendar year (2003 and 2005) and on 3 December 2006 overtook Steve Waugh as the leading Australian century maker with 33 Test centuries. He now has 38 and lies second in highest number of Test centuries in the history of cricket, four behind world leader Sachin Tendulkar. He is also the third fastest batsmen ever to reach 10,000 runs in Test matches. He has scored over 11,000 Test runs at an average near 57, but since the February 2002 tour of South Africa (when he was elevated to the ODI team captaincy) he has scored 25 of his Test centuries and averaged above 74, leading to comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman.

Ponting is also Australia's leading ODI run-scorer and century maker. His century against the West Indies in Jaipur at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the youngest ever World Cup centurion, and his unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup final was the highest by a captain in a World Cup final. In 2007 Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at St Kitts, Ponting became the first Australian to reach 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket and the 7th in world cricket to achieve this distinction. He recently reached 10,000 Test runs against the West Indies in June 2008 and crossed 11,000 ODI runs in the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008.

Like many Australian batsmen, Ponting is particularly strong against pace bowling, with the full array of back foot shots, including the pull, hook, and square cut. Early on, he was regarded as a near-compulsive hooker, but he has lately moderated this tendency. He tends to move across his off stump and lean back towards the leg side, and has therefore been regarded as vulnerable to LBW early in his innings. He is less adept against spin bowling, particularly on very helpful spinning pitches such as those in India where his average is 20.85.

After his first 30 Tests in just under four years his average was 38.62, and after rising into the mid-40s had dipped again to 40.50 after 45 Tests. Since that time his average has consistently risen; his averages in recent calendar years are 70.93 in 2002, 100.20 in 2003, 41.00 in 2004, 67.13 in 2005 and 88.86 in 2006.

Ponting bowls very occasional medium pace, and has experimented with off spin. He has taken 5 wickets in his Test career, the first being Asanka Gurusinha in only his second Test. Since he became captain, he hasn't bowled often; but he took his first Test wicket in five and a half years when he dismissed Michael Vaughan caught behind in the 4th Test in the 2005 Ashes Series. In One Day Internationals, he has taken 3 wickets, but has not bowled at this level since 2001.

He is an outstanding fieldsman square of the wicket or at silly point, with fast reactions and hand-eye coordination and (especially in the one-day game) a reputation for hitting the stumps to run out opposition batsmen. A report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the second highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the sixth highest success rate.

In a Test against West Indies in 2008, Ricky Ponting scored his 10,000th run, becoming the third fastest to do so. On the 8th of March 2009, during the Second Test between Australia and South Africa in Durban, Ponting passed Steve Waugh's run tally of 10927, making him the fourth highest Test run scorer, behind Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Allan Border, and the second highest run scorer for Australia. On July 9 2009, in the first Ashes test at Cardiff, Ponting joined the aforementioned batsmen when he went past 11,000 Test runs, scoring a century in the process.

Career summary

Early years

Ponting was born in Launceston, Tasmania and attended school at Mowbray Primary and then Brooks High School. Ponting played his junior cricket for Mowbray Cricket Club and attracted attention at an early age. Nicknamed Punter by Shane Warne for his love of greyhound-racing, he left school at 16 to attend the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide. After impressing head coach Rod Marsh, Ponting made his Sheffield Shield debut at the age of 17, in the 1992/93 season. He was immediately productive, scoring 782 runs at 46 for the season. He was the youngest Tasmanian to score a first-class century, and the youngest to score centuries in each innings of a match on Australian soil. This put him in contention for selection for the 1993 Ashes tour, and despite being overlooked, he continued his heavy scoring in his second domestic season, scoring 965 at 48.25 to propel the Tasmanians into the Shield final. His form the following year in 1994/95 led to his selection in the Australian XI to play in a four-day match against England, as well as selection for Australia A in the ODI tournament.

International career begins

Ponting's domestic performances were rewarded when he was selected for the Australian ODI team to play in a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in early 1995. He played in all of Australia's matches, aggregating 80 runs at 40, highlighted by a 62 against India in Dunedin. He was selected for the subsequent tour of the West Indies, and although he played in two more ODIs, he watched from the dressing room as his teammates reclaimed the Frank Worrell Trophy.

He made his Test debut in the 1st Test against Sri Lanka in December 1995 at Perth, replacing Greg Blewett although due to Steve Waugh's absence through injury Ponting batted at 5. He was out for 96, lbw to Chaminda Vaas. He combined with Stuart Law, also playing on debut, for a partnership of 121. This was only the ninth ever century partnership by debutants in test cricket.

He also featured that season in the ODI team, and attended the 1996 Cricket World Cup, where he batted in the No.3 position, and became the youngest batsman to score a World Cup century, when he achieved the feat in a group match against the West Indies.

With the retirement of fellow Tasmanian David Boon, Ponting was elevated to the No.3 position in the Test team for the series against the West Indies in 1996-97 in Australia. After two Test matches and three scores under 10, he was replaced by Justin Langer and was out of the team for six months. Returning at Leeds in July 1997 he scored his first Test century (127, batting at No.6) but in 1998-99 again failed to hold his place consistently, being dropped in favour of Darren Lehmann on the tour of Pakistan and again in the home series against England. He had played 22 Tests at the end of 1998, with 1209 runs at an average of 36.63. He was a permanent fixture in the ODI team throughout this period.

Test career consolidates

Ponting was in the squad for the 1999 tour of the West Indies, and scored 104 batting at No.6 when recalled to the starting XI for the 3rd Test. Injury aside (he missed a tour of New Zealand after hurting his ankle in a fielding mishap in an ODI Final at Sydney), his position was now secure in spite of a run of poor form in 2001 - this included 17 runs at an average of 3.4 in three Tests in India, dismissed all five times by Harbhajan Singh. Despite this recent run of poor scores, Ponting was promoted to the key No.3 position in the Australian batting order at the expense of Justin Langer, while Damien Martyn took Ponting's former spot at No.6. Ponting began the series poorly, scoring 11, 14, 4 ,14 and 17 - the first four dismissals all to Darren Gough - before returning to form at Leeds, scoring 144 and 72 in a dead-rubber. Starting with that 2001 Ashes series he has batted No.3 in all but four of his Test innings. Despite his initial failure, Ponting has averaged 64.34 since his promotion, scoring 30 of his 37 centuries..

In late 2003, Ponting scored double-centuries in back-to-back Tests against India, at Adelaide (242) and at Melbourne (257, his career high). Having also scored 206 at Port-of-Spain earlier in the year, he became only the second player (Sir Donald Bradman the other) to hit three double-centuries in a calendar year. Ponting's 242 against India at Adelaide is also the highest ever test score by a batsman whose team was subsequently defeated in the match.

ODI captaincy

Ponting hits to the on side in an ODI

Although the Test team had continued to perform well, sweeping South Africa 3-0 in the home series in 2001-02, the One-Day International (ODI) team suffered a slump, failing to qualify for the finals of the triangular tournament, leading to the dropping of Steve Waugh from the one-day team in February 2002. Ponting was elevated to the captaincy, ahead of then vice-captain Adam Gilchrist. The fortunes of the ODI team revived and Ponting led his team to a dominant, undefeated, performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The Final, in which India were defeated by a record (for World Cup Final matches) 125 runs, featured Ponting's brilliant 140 from 121 balls.

On 12 March 2006, Ponting scored 164 in only 105 balls in the 5th ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg, as Australia made a record total of 434 for 4, only to be beaten by South Africa's 438 for 9. At the end of the match Ponting was jointly awarded Man of the Match with Herschelle Gibbs.

Ponting has captained Australia 183 times in ODIs for 133 wins and two ties. Australia have won 77% of matches that he has captained, the best of any captain of any country to have captained more than 100 matches. He has captained Australia in 22 World Cup matches without defeat.

Test captaincy

After Steve Waugh's retirement at the beginning of 2004, Ponting assumed the Test captaincy. Since 1997 the Australian team has not always had the same captain for Tests and for ODIs, with Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh being dropped from the ODI team whilst still the Test captain. Ponting is expected to hold his place in both teams for several years to come.

Following the 2008 Frank Worrell Trophy series against the West Indies, Ponting's captaincy record is 33 wins from 44 matches, a better ratio of success than any previous Australian captain with more than 10 matches captained (Warwick Armstrong won 8 of 10). He is now second (behind Steve Waugh with 41) for total wins by Australian captains. He is seventh for wins amongst all Test captains (record also held by Waugh).

2005 Ashes

Main article: 2005 Ashes series

Australia lost to England 2–1 after starting the series as favourites. Ponting thus became the first Australian captain since Allan Border in 1986–87 to lose an Ashes series. The 2005 series was hailed as one of the great Test series, but Ponting faced significant criticism afterwards and his tenure as captain was questioned. In his defence, Ponting said that Australia had simply been outplayed and had not stepped up at crucial moments in the matches. He rejected suggestions that Shane Warne should be captain in his stead.

The series began with a big win to Australia at Lord's, but in the pre-match warm up before the next Test at Edgbaston, an accidental injury to Glenn McGrath led to his late withdrawal from the match. Ponting sent England in to bat after winning the toss, a decision widely criticised. England posted a big first innings total and won the game by 2 runs after a near-successful run chase by bowlers Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz on the final day. England had the upper hand throughout the third Test at Old Trafford, where Australia needed to bat through the last day to force a draw. Ponting scored 156, the first Australian century of the series, and was dismissed only four overs from the end of the day. In the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, Australia again batted poorly and was forced to follow-on. In the second innings, Ponting (on a score of 48) was run out by the substitute fielder (Gary Pratt). Ponting reacted angrily, directing a tirade at the English support team in the pavilion concerning the liberal use of substitutes despite Gary Pratt being on the field due to an injury to England's bowler Simon Jones, who would go on to miss the 5th and final test match of the series. Ponting was later fined by the match referee. Australia went on to lose the match, despite a spirited fightback with the ball on the last day. Also in this match Ponting bowled six overs, and took his first wicket since March 1999; Michael Vaughan caught behind by Adam Gilchrist. The fifth test at The Oval was weather-affected and the Ashes were lost for the first time in 16 years.

2006–07 Ashes

Main article: 2006-07 Ashes series

Ponting and Shane Warne in the 2006-07 Ashes series.

The setback to Australia, and to Ponting as Australian captain, of the 2005 Ashes defeat, was to prove a strong motivation for the Australian camp to improve their standards and overcome any complacency that may have arisen from Australia's being the world's premier cricketing nation for a decade or so. In November 2006, the England cricket team again took on Australia in the first test of a five test series that was widely expected to be a tremendous contest between Australia, the top team on the world cricket rankings, and the England team, whose aggregated results over the last few years had it standing second in the rankings. Despite Australia this time having the advantage of playing on its own soil, the England team that had wrested the Ashes from the Australians was expected to be highly competitive.

In the First Test in Brisbane, Ponting top-scored in Australia's first innings with 196 runs, and he followed this up with 60 not out in the second. In the Second Test in Adelaide, Ponting top-scored with 142, helping Australia to a total of 513 in response to England's 6/551. Australia went on to win the match by six wickets. The third Test played at the WACA Ground saw another win to Australia by 206 runs to reclaim the Ashes. The 15 months they had been in English hands was the shortest period either nation had held the urn. Further wins in Melbourne and Sydney, made Ponting's team the second team (after Warwick Armstrong's Australian team in 1920-21) to win an Ashes series 5-0, and that against what had been thought to be a formidable enemy, the second strongest cricketing team in the world. Under Ponting's leadership, the Australians equalled the longest winning streak of 16 games held also by Australia, under the captaincy of Steve Waugh. Ricky Ponting was awarded Man of the Series for the 2006-07 Ashes series after scoring 576 runs at an average of 82.29 including 2 centuries and 2 half centuries.

2007 Cricket World Cup

Ponting in his batting kit.

Australia left for St Vincent, Australia's venue for its two warm-up matches against Zimbabwe and England on February 28 without Brett Lee because of ankle damage. In the first warmup game against Zimbabwe, Ponting scored just 2 in Australia's 106 run victory.[1] In Australia's second and last warm up game, this time against England, Ponting again failed to make an impact, scoring just 7 before he was bowled by off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple.

Australia started its official World Cup campaign with three group matches played at Warner Park, St Kitts. Ponting himself starte his campaing sucessfully with an innings of 113 from 93 deliveries that included five sixes, as Australia were dominant in 203 run victory against Scotland. Ponting later wrote "By the end of our innings, I felt like my game was in pretty good shape." Despite scoring just 23 in the next match against the Netherlands, Australia still amassed 358 and preceded to bundle out the Dutch for 129 in 26.5 overs. In the lead up to Australia's last group stage match against pre-tournament number one ranked team South Africa; former South African batsman Jonty Rhodes claimed that Australia weren't as good fielding side as the South Africans. Winning the toss and batting first, Australia amassed 6-377-their highest score in World Cups. Matthew Hayden scored 101 from 68 deliveries and reached three figures in only 66 deliveries, and in doing so, scored the fastest Cricket World Cup century in history. Ponting also scored 91 from 91 balls, and became the seventh player to score 10,000 ODI runs, but later wrote in his Captains Diary:

I felt as if I hardly hit a ball in the middle all day. When I was out there with Haydos, I felt like a flyweight batting with George Foreman. The fact I managed 91 from 91 balls was purely a reflection on the short distance from the middle to the boundary rope. Even when I got out, caught on the long-on boundary, the ball hit the toe of the bat and I was surprised it flew that far.

Despite South Africa being 160 without loss in the 21st over, bringing back memories of their record run chase in Johannesburg a year earlier, South Africa crumbled, losing 9 wickets for just 74 runs. At the post-game media conference, Ponting was critical of Kallis' innings (48 from 63). When asked if he was surprised by the way Kallis had batted in that situation, he replied "No, that's the way he plays."

Australia comfortably qualified for the Super Eights with their first match played at the new Antigua Recreation Ground in Antigua. Ponting stated that he wasn't very impressed with the outfield labeling it "...ridiculously sandy, to the point that the first thing I thought when I walked on it was a torn leg muscle." Australia's number three was run out when on 35, with his team amassing 322 mainly thanks to 158 from Hayden. In a match spread out over two days, Australia comfortably defeated the locals by 103 runs. In their next match, Australia come up against lowly Bangladesh in another ran interrupted affair. This time the match was shortened to 22 overs a side as the stadium failed to handle the rain that fell before the rain. In the end Australia won by 10 wickets with Ponting not getting a chance to bat. Ponting's men had an eight day break before their match against England again in Antigua. Despite Kevin Pieterson's century in England's innings, Ponting amassed a half-century guiding Australia to a seven wicket victory. After not getting a bat in Australia's route of Ireland in Barbados on April 13, Ponting steered Australia to victory in their next match against Sri Lanka in Grenada, with 66 not out. Grenada was again the venue for Australia's final super eights battle, this time against New Zeland. Again amongst the runs, Ponting produced a fluent 66 that included seven boundaries, with his team wrapping up their biggest victory of the tournament. Before the Sri Lankan match, reports came out describing the pitch as a "compost heap", although Ponting disagreed, even though he described the square as "patchy".

With his men now firm favourites for the tournament, they again came up against South Africa in the Semi-Final. Surprisingly to some, South African skipper Graeme Smith elected to bat on a pitch that appeared to have something in it. South Africa who were reeling at 5-27 ended up posting 149. Ponting's description of the performance was:

They were all trying to play the innings of their life in the same game, but they were cut down, one after the other. Instead of swimming between the flags, they drowned down the wrong end of the beach. Smith and Jacques Kallis were too aggressive much too quickly...

Although Ponting struggled to trouble the scorers with 22, Australia easily dispatched South Africa by 7 wickets, inside 32 overs.

Recent

He started the 07/08 series well but in the CB series until Australia's last match against India where he and another poor performing Australian batsmen, Andrew Symonds put on a 100 run partnership with Ponting making a hundred and Symonds making 50. He had experienced a slump in batting for much of 2008, albeit in comparison to his usually high standards. He has, however, again exceeded 1000 runs in the calendar year, with his 37th century in the first innings of the Boxing day test against South Africa, and a 99 in the second innings, scoring 200 runs for the match, seemingly a lone stand against the South African bowling attack.

Controversies

Ponting's career has not been without controversy. He has been fined for dissent on more than one occasion. Ponting was involved in a fight outside a pub in Kings Cross, New South Wales in early 1999, and earned a suspension from the national team. He sustained a black eye in the fight. Ponting admitted to media that he suffered from alcoholism, and sought external help to attend to this problem.

During Australia's tour of India in 1998, Ponting was thrown out of Equinox night club in Kolkata. The Indian papers reported that Ponting was misbehaving with several women in the nightclub. Ponting was fined by Australian team management for this incident, and later apologised to the nightclub staff. No criminal charges were laid against Ponting.

During the 4th Test of the 2005 Ashes series, at Trent Bridge, Ponting was angrily outspoken about the use of substitute fielders by the England side, particularly after being run out by such a substitute. He directed an abusive tirade at the England dressing-room and was subsequently fined 75 per cent of his match fee. After England won the match to take a two-one lead in the series Ponting returned to the subject of substitutes in an interview with Australian radio: "I think it's an absolute disgrace the spirit of the game is being treated like that. It is within the rules; it's just not within the spirit of the game." England coach Duncan Fletcher later commented on this incident: "He [Ponting] completely blew his top. I did not actually think it at the time but, looking back now, that might be the moment when it became clear that England were going to regain the Ashes."

In 2005, he began using cricket bats with a graphite covering over the wooden blade of the bat. This was ruled by the MCC to have contravened Law 6.1, which states that bats have to be made of wood, although they may be "covered with material for protection, strengthening or repair not likely to cause unacceptable damage to the ball". Ponting and his bat supplier, Kookaburra Sport, agreed to comply.

In early 2006, in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, Ponting had an on-field argument with umpire Billy Bowden over signalling a no-ball because not enough players were within the inner circle. In mid 2006, during a tour of Bangladesh, Ponting was accused of "badgering the umpires until he got what he wanted". He has also been accused of charging at the umpires in appeal, which is forbidden.

After the final of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, Ponting drew some criticism for appearing to ask BCCI president and Indian politician Sharad Pawar to "leave the podium", while his team-mate Damien Martyn pushed him gently in the back so that his team could commence celebrations. The issue, while minor, was solved when Ponting issued a formal apology to Pawar.

After the Second Test of the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ponting and the Australian team were strongly censured by sections of the media and commentators for not playing the match in the spirit of the game.The Sydney Morning Herald carried a headline: Arrogant Ponting must be fired as well as a scathing critique by journalist and former English player Peter Roebuck, who branded Ponting arrogant and insisted that he be stripped of the captaincy. In a blog entry for The Bulletin, however, former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell argued that Ponting should not be sacked because of his willingness to learn from his mistakes.

During Australia's 2008-09 tour of India, Ponting came under criticism for his inability to keep his bowlers up with the required over-rate, arguably squandering a small chance of victory in the final Test in a bid to avoid suspension; instead he incurred a fine. He failed to redress the matter during the subsequent home series against New Zealand, when match referee Chris Broad dealt a second successive fine for being three overs behind in the First Test: Ponting was stripped of thirty per cent of his A$12,750 match fee, twice the punishment of his team-mates in accordance with International Cricket Council rules for captains.

Endorsements

Ponting has appeared in promotional advertisements for National Foods's Pura Milk, Rexona, Medibank Private, Victoria Bitter, Valvoline, KFC, Swisse and Weet-Bix. In 2007 Ponting signed a deal with India's ING Vysya Bank whereby customers starting an account with the bank went into a draw to win a dinner date with the Australian. He was also the face of Codemasters's Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005 and reprised his role for the 2007 version.

Personal life

Ricky Ponting is the nephew of Tasmanian Test cricketer and fast bowler Greg Campbell.

With the large financial rewards of international cricket, Ponting is a full-time professional cricketer, although he is involved with Stride Sports, a sports management business which is well-known for managing some of the biggest names in the AFL - including Glenn Archer and Cameron Mooney. A well-known off-field interest of Ponting's is betting on horse and greyhound races, revealed by his nickname, "Punter". Ponting is a talented golfer, playing off a handicap of 1.7. Ricky married his long-time girlfriend, law student Rianna Jennifer Cantor, in June 2002. He has himself credited her as a reason for the maturity evident in his game in recent years. On 26 February 2008, Ponting and his wife Rianna announced that they were expecting their first child. Daughter Emmy Charlotte was born in Sydney, Australia on 26 July 2008. Ponting is a keen supporter - and number one ticket holder - of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. On 9 August 2007, Ponting appeared on The AFL Footy Show where he talked about his desire to become a Kangaroos board member. Ricky and wife Rianna have a superstitious liking for the number 14.

Books

Authored or co-authored

• Ricky Ponting (2007). Captain's Diary 2007. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0-7322-8153-9.
• Ricky Ponting (2006). Captain's Diary 2006. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0-7322-8153-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Ricky Ponting (2005). Ashes Diary. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0-7322-8152-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Ricky Ponting (2004). Ricky Ponting's World Cup Diary. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0-7322-7847-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Ricky Ponting (1998). Ricky Ponting. Ironbark Press. ISBN 0-330-36117-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Achievements

Awards

Ponting was the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2003 and one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2006. He has been the Allan Border Medalist a record four times in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Ponting has won the award of Australia's best test player in 2003, 2004 and 2007 and Australia's best One Day International player in 2002 and 2007. He was selected as the ICC World XI captain for the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal charity match against the ACC Asian XI in 2004–05 and scored a match winning 115 off 102 deliveries. Ponting was the joint winner of the 2009 Allan Border Medal with vice-captain Michael Clarke, with both scoring 41 points.

Test Match Performances

Test debut: vs Sri Lanka, Perth, 1995-96

• Ponting's best Test batting score of 257 was made against India, Melbourne, 2003–2004
• Most Test centuries in a calendar year by an Australian: 7 in 2006
• Most Test centuries by an Australian: 38
• Ponting, during the second innings of the Third Test in Perth, became the leading run scorer on Australian soil, surpassing the previous record holder Allan Border's mark of 5,743 set in 86 Tests between 1978 and 1994.
• Ponting's 242 against India, Adelaide 2003-2004 is the highest Test score by a batsman in a losing side.
• Equal most times (3) scoring 100 runs in both innings of a test, shared with Sunil Gavasker
• Ponting became the fourth man in history to pass 11,000 test runs, being made against England in Cardiff for the first Ashes test during 2009.

		Batting				Fielding
Opposition	Matches	Runs	Average	High score	100s / 50s	Catches
Bangladesh	4	260	65.00	118*	1 / 2	4
England	27	2,128	50.66	196	8 / 6	28
ICC World XI	1	100	50.00	54	0 / 1	1
India	23	1787	47.02	257	6 / 6	28
New Zealand	13	908	64.84	157*	2 / 5	16
Pakistan	10	1061	81.61	207	4 / 3	11
South Africa	21	2030	56.38	143*	8 / 8	24
Sri Lanka	12	851	50.05	105*	1 / 7	13
West Indies	18	1695	62.77	206	7 / 5	15
Zimbabwe	3	290	96.66	169	1 / 1	4
Overall	128	10750	56.87	257	37 / 44	142

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Ponting's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Man of the Match Awards – Ricky Ponting
	Runs	Against	City/Country	Venue	Result	Year
[1]	96/51	Sri Lanka	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	Match Drawn	1999
[2]	105*	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sr Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	Match Drawn	1999
[3]	197	Pakistan	Perth, Australia	WACA	Won by inns & 20 runs	1999
[4]	157*	New Zealand	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	Match Drawn	2001
[5]	154	England	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	Won by inns & 51 runs	2002
[6]	206/45	West Indies	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	Won by 118 runs	2003
[7]	169/53*	Zimbabwe	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket	Won by 9 wickets	2003
[8]	257/31*	India	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won by 9 wickets	2003
[9]	105/86*	New Zealand	Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	Won by 9 wickets	2005
[10]	7/156	England	Manchester, England	Old Trafford	Match Drawn	2005
[11]	149/104*	West Indies	Brisbane, Australia	Gabba	Won by 379 runs	2005
[12]	120/143*	South Africa	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	Won by 8 wickets	2006
[13]	196/60*	England	Brisbane, Australia	Gabba	Won by 277 runs	2006
[14]	129/49	England	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	Won by 6 wickets	2006

Man of the Series Awards – Ricky Ponting
	Runs	Average	Catches	Opponents	Result	Year
[1]	253	84.33	3	Sri Lanka	Won series 1-0	1999
[2]	523	130.75	3	West Indies	Won series 3-1	2003
[3]	515	103.00	5	South Africa	Won series 2-1	2005-06
[4]	576	82.28	4	England	Won series 5-0	2006-07

One Day International records

ODI debut: vs South Africa, Wellington, 1994–95.

• Ponting's best ODI batting score of 164 was made against South Africa, Johannesburg (South Africa), 2005-06.
• Most One Day International Runs by an Australian.
• Most One Day International Centuries by an Australian.
• Most sixes in a World Cup innings (8), shared with Imran Nazir, Yuvraj Singh and Adam Gilchrist.
• Most centuries in World Cups (4), equal with Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar.

		Batting				Fielding
Opposition	Matches	Runs	Average	High score	100s / 50s	Catches
Asia XI	1	115	115.00	115	1 / 0	1
Bangladesh	11	243	40.50	101	1 / 1	10
England	29	1110	46.25	119	3 / 6	13
ICC World XI	3	157	52.33	68	0 / 2	4
India	48	1713	39.83	140*	5 / 5	14
Ireland	1	-	-	-	-	1
Kenya	3	24	12.00	18	0 / 0	3
Namibia	1	2	2.00	2	0 / 0	2
Netherlands	2	23	23.00	23	0 / 0	2
New Zealand	44	1794	49.83	141*	6 / 10	20
Pakistan	28	931	40.47	124	1 / 7	10
Scotland	2	146	73.00	113	1 / 0	-
South Africa	45	1795	40.95	164	2 / 12	10
Sri Lanka	37	1440	45.00	124	4 / 8	15
United States	1	8	-	8*	0 / 0	-
West Indies	39	1101	30.58	102	1 / 9	21
Zimbabwe	20	921	54.17	145	1 / 7	11
Overall	318	11523	42.52	164	26 / 67	137

Captaincy records

• Most victories as ODI captain: 122
• Highest victory rate as ODI captain in more than 20 matches: 75.74%
• Most Cricket World Cup victories as captain: 2
• Most Cricket World Cups won as captain: 2, shared with Clive Lloyd
• Most consecutive Test victories won as captain: 16, shared with Steve Waugh

Individual honours

• Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2003
• Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 2006
• Allan Border Medal: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 (with Michael Clarke)
• Australian Test Player of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2007
• Australian ODI Player of the Year: 2002, 2007
• ICC Player of the Year: 2006, 2007
• ICC Captain of the Year: 2007
• ICC Test Player of the Year: 2006
• ICC World Test XI: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• ICC World ODI XI: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Cricket World Cup winner: 1999, 2003, 2007
• Pura Cup winner: 2006-07
• Ford Ranger Cup winner: 2007-08
• Ponting had earned 14 "Man of the Match" awards in 110 Tests; he also has 25 such awards in 285 One-Day Internationals (including the joint award which he had declined from the Johannesburg match).
• Named Vice-Captain in Australia's greatest ever ODI team.

External links

• Cricket Archive Player Profile - Ricky Ponting
• Cricinfo Player Profile : Ricky Thomas Ponting