Ricky Ponting

Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. He is considered the most successful captain in international cricket history, with 220 victories in 324 matches with a winning ratio of 67.91%. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its ‘golden era’ between 2004 and 2011 in Tests and 2002 and 2011 in One Day Internationals (ODIs). He is a specialist right-handed batsman, an excellent slip/close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He was named “Cricketer of the Decade 2000”.

He is the only Australian Test captain to have led his side to three separate Ashes series defeats, but led Australia to their second ever 5-0 Ashes win as well as victory at the 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups and was also a member of the 1999 World Cup winning team under Steve Waugh. He also led Australia to ICC Champions Trophy victory twice in a row, in 2006 and 2009. After being involved in over 160 Tests and 370 ODIs, Ponting is Australia’s leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket. He is one of only four players (along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis) in history to have scored 13,000 Test runs. Statistically, he is one of the most successful Test captains of all time, with 48 victories in 77 Tests between 2004 and 31 December 2010. As a player, Ponting is the only cricketer in history to be involved in 100 Test victories. Ponting also holds the record to have been involved in the most ODI victories as a player, with 262 wins.