20 Facts about Ricky Ponting - Australia's Greatest of the Modern era

Ricky Ponting is one of the greatest batsmen to represent Australia. Ponting stands tall as a cricketing figure, with most international runs and centuries for Australia. The Australian cricket team was known as the toughest to beat when he was at the helm. It was the ‘golden era’; between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. Ponting holds the incredible record of being the only cricketer in the history of Test cricket to be a part of 100 Test match wins while playing for Australia.

While at the Australian Institute of Sport’s Cricket Academy, he said to be the best 17-year-old batsman by Academy coach Rod Marsh. Ponting was an aggressive competitor and had abundance of determination, courage and skill. According to former Australian captain Allan Border, “he wears his heart on his sleeve”. Ponting will always be remembered as a world class batsman and a determined leader of a champion team.

1. Birth:

Ricky Thomas Ponting was born on December 19, 1974, in Launceston, Tasmania. Ponting’s parents first lived in Prospect which is to the south of Tasmania but then moved into the working-class area of Newnham in central Launceston.

2. Growing years:

Ricky Ponting is the eldest of three siblings. His younger brother Drew bowled to him in the backyard and Ricky batting for hours. When Drew would get his chance, Ricky would dismiss him soon enough to hold the bat again and resume batting again.

3. Rich sporting family:

Ricky Ponting belonged to a middle-class family. His brother Graeme was “a good club cricketer” and played Australian Rules football as a youngster. His father Thomas, was also involved in Golf while Ponting’s mother, Lorraine played for Tasmania in Vigoro, a game that is a mix of cricket and tennis. She was its state champion. She was also good enough to play netball and badminton at a decent level. His uncle Greg Campbell played Test cricket for Australia in 1989 and 1990.

4. Introduction to cricket:

Ricky Ponting was introduced to cricket by father Graeme and Uncle Greg Campbell. Later, Ponting began playing for the Mowbray Under–13s team at the age of 11 in 1985–86.

5. The ‘David Boon’ of school cricket:

In January 1986, he took part in the five-day annual Northern Tasmania junior cricket competition. After scoring four centuries in a week, bat manufacturer Kookaburra gave Ponting a sponsorship contract while in just eighth grade. Less than a month later, in the Under-16s week-long competition, he scored an even century on the final day. Ted Richardson, the former head of the Northern Tasmanian Schools Cricket Association said: “Ricky is certainly the equal of David Boon at this level.

6. Mentored by Ian Young:

Ponting’s mentor was Ian Young, whose son Shaun went on to play for Australia. In fact, Shaun Young and Ponting played a Test match together against England on the 1997 Ashes tour to England. Ponting remained close to Ian, until his death in 2010. Sadly, Ponting could not attend the funeral as he was in India, representing Australia in a Test match.

7. Ponting Sr. and Ponting Jr. bat together:

Growing up, Ponting played most of his age group and initial cricket for the Mowbray Cricket Club in Launceston, Tasmania. In one of the games, Ponting and his father Graeme batted together. But the father-son duo could not enjoy each other’s batting very long as Ponting Sr. was out quickly.

 8. Injury cuts Australian Rules football from his life:

Australian Rules football was also a big part of Ponting’s sporting life and is a keen follower of the North Melbourne Kangaroos. During the winter he played junior football for North Launceston and up until he was 14, it could have become a possible sporting option. This was before he broke the humerus in his right arm playing for North Launceston Under–17s as a 13-year-old. Ponting’s arm was so badly damaged, it had to be pinned. Told to endure a 14-week lay-off, he never played competitive football again.

9. Ground staff and a scorer before becoming a cricketer:

After leaving school at the end of year 10 in 1990, he began work with the ground staff team at Scotch Oakburn College, a private school in Launceston. Ponting was a part of the scoreboard team at Sheffield Shield games. He used to be rewarded with A$ 20 for his day’s job. Ponting described the experience as, “That job confirmed for me that a life in sport was what I really wanted.”

10. Youngest to score a first-class century:

Ponting became the youngest Tasmanian to score a first-class century at 18 years and 40 days, eclipsing Boon’s record of 19 years and 356 days.

11. Tour with future teammates:

Ponting first met with Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath on a tour to South Africa in 1992, where they were representing the Australian Cricket Academy. Ponting and Gilchrist sat next to each other on the flight to South Africa but hardly knew each other and exchanged words only after getting down at Johannesburg.

12. First encounter with Sachin Tendulkar:

In 1992, when Ponting was a part of the Australian Cricket Academy, he first saw Sachin Tendulkar. Having heard a lot about him, Ponting asked the authorities to allow him to stay after practice to watch the Indian youngster. “I wanted to see Sachin Tendulkar who everyone was talking about, and I took up a position behind the nets while he had a bat. It’s fair to say I was going to watch him bat for a long time to come, but that day I was studying his technique, trying to see what it was about him,” Ponting wrote in his book.

13. The Ponting and Shane Warne connection:

During his time at the Academy in Adelaide, Ponting met Shane Warne, who was already a Test cricketer by then. In fact, Ponting batted against Warne whenever he wanted to bowl and work on his technique with Terry Jenner. Ponting’s liking for dog races and his penchant for betting on them prompted Warne to christen him as ‘Punter’ and that name stuck forever.

14. Debut: 

Ricky Ponting made his ODI debut for Australia against South Africa in 1995. Later at the year end, Ricky Ponting earned his baggy green against Sri Lanka at Perth.

15. Achieves the highest batsman rating:

On 1 December 2006, Ponting became the highest rated Test batsman.

16. Most successful captain in the history of the game:

Ponting is one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. He have won 48 victories in 77 Tests as captain between 2004 and 31 December 2010.

Top 10 Most successful Test captains

17. The champion leader of the invincible:

The early 2000’s saw Australia dominating every team in the world. The Aussies won a hat-trick of World Cups out of which Ponting captained Australia to 2 consecutive World Cup victories in 2003 and 2007 out of 1999, 2003, 2007.

 18. The dark spot on his illustrious captaincy record:

His record in the Ashes is the only thing which he would like to forget in his career. Ponting holds a record of being the only Australian Test captain to have led his team to three separate Ashes series defeats.

19. Overall career:

Ponting is incredible as a player who scored 13,378 runs gaining an average of 51.85 in 168 Tests with 257 as his best score and scored 13,704 runs gaining an average of 42.03 in 375 ODI matches with 164 as his top score.

20. Not just a cricketer:

Ponting is not only a cricketer but also a writer who has published various books like Brian Murgatroyd (2003, 2004, 2005); Geoff Armstrong (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009); his Autobiography Ponting: At the close of play (2013).