Ricky Ponting
Full name
Ricky Thomas Ponting
Born
December 19, 1974, Launceston, Tasmania
Current age 41 years 223 days
Major teams Australia, Antigua Hawksbills, ICC World XI, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Somerset, Surrey, Tasmania
Nickname Punter
Playing role Top-order batsman
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height
1.78 m
Education Mowbray Primary; Brooks Senior High School, Launceston
Ricky Ponting, the most uncompromising player of his generation, grew
into Australia's most successful run-maker and only sits below Bradman
in the country's overall ratings. It takes an extremely critical eye to
diminish his run-scoring achievements, which seem to collect new records
in every series. Like spotting a celebrity, it's necessary to look
twice when analysing Ponting, first as the archetypal modern batsman,
then as the country's 42nd Test captain. There is no doubt about his
greatness after taking guard, but his leadership has been under scrutiny
for much of his reign. While his blade has sparkled, his stewardship is
pock-marked by three Ashes defeats - two in England and one at home -
and stumbles to South Africa and India.
Those results didn't stop him from
becoming the most successful captain in Test history after passing Steve
Waugh's 41 wins in the 2009-10 Boxing Day Test. In the same match he
overtook Shane Warne's 92 victories as the most by an individual, and he
led Australia to 26 consecutive undefeated (completed) World Cup games.
He stepped down from the captaincy when that run ended, in the 2011
World Cup. For the first three years of his reign he was in charge of a
superstar unit and did not have to decide much tactically, but once that
group headed for retirement he had to change from a manager to moulder.
As a batsman the only debate is
where to rank him in the high reaches of the game's greatest run-makers.
Acclaimed by Academy coach Rod Marsh as the best teenage batsman he had
ever seen, Ponting began with Tasmania at 17 and Australia at 20, and
was given out unluckily for 96 on his Test debut. There were some
teething problems, including a public admission of an alcohol problem,
but the longer he went on the more he matured, building up records and
runs.
He plays all the shots with a
full flourish of the bat - the cover drive and the pull are particularly
productive methods - and knows only to attack. His breathtaking,
dead-eye fielding is a force in the game by itself. Only Sachin
Tendulkar has more centuries in Tests and ODIs combined than Ponting,
who is a natural in the game's traditional forms, but resistant to the
perks of Twenty20, from which he retired from in 2009. There have been
setbacks against probing seam attacks, high-class finger-spin and,
latterly, short balls, which he insists are meant to be pulled or
hooked.
After a fairly prolonged
patchy run of form, Ponting announced that the Perth Test against South
Africa in November-December 2012 would be his last international match.
Cricket Career
Test debut
| Australia v Sri Lanka at Perth, Dec 8-11, 1995 | ||||||||||
| Last Test | Australia v South Africa at Perth, Nov 30-Dec 3, 2012 | |||||||||
| Test statistics | ||||||||||
| ODI debut | Australia v South Africa at Wellington, Feb 15, 1995 | |||||||||
| Last ODI | Australia v India at Brisbane, Feb 19, 2012 | |||||||||
| ODI statistics | ||||||||||
| T20I debut | New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Feb 17, 2005 | |||||||||
| Last T20I | Australia v Sri Lanka at Nottingham, Jun 8, 2009 | |||||||||
| T20I statistics | ||||||||||
| First-class debut | 1992/93 | |||||||||
| Last First-class | Surrey v Nottinghamshire at The Oval, Jul 8-11, 2013 | |||||||||
| List A debut | 1992/93 | |||||||||
| Last List A | Surrey v Lancashire at Guildford, Jun 9, 2013 | |||||||||
| Twenty20 debut | Somerset v Northamptonshire at Taunton, Jul 15, 2004 | |||||||||
| Last Twenty20 | Antigua Hawksbills v Guyana Amazon Warriors at North Sound, Aug 17, 2013 |
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