Ricky Ponting is a professional cricketer, born on December 19, 1974 in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. He did his primary education at Mowbray Primary and later went to Brooks High School. Ricky Ponting is married to Rianna Jennifer and they have a daughter named Emmy Charlotte.
Ricky Ponting made his Test debut for the Australian side on December 8, 1995 in a match against Sri Lanka and scored 96 runs batting at the sixth position. During the 1996-97 season, Ricky Ponting was included in the Test team for the series against the West Indies and was promoted to come in at No. 3. On July 26, 1997, he scored his first Test century in an Ashes series match at Headingly in his first ever Ashes series innings. A couple of years later, he was selected in the squad for the series against the West Indies and scored a fabulous 104 in the third Test of this series. In 2003, Ricky Ponting scored his first double century in a match against the West Indies, scoring 206. He carried on his good form to the next series against India and scored back-to-back double-centuries at Adelaide (242) and Melbourne (257), the later being his career best. With these performances, Ricky Ponting became the second player in Australian cricket history to score three double-hundreds in a calendar year. Following this feat, he was chosen as the Australian Test Player of the Year and was also included in the International Cricket council (ICC) World Test XI team. On March 8, 2004, Ricky Ponting made his debut as the captain of the Test team in a match against Sri Lanka and led his side to victory. In the 2005-06 season, Ricky Ponting scored a century in both innings of a Test match thrice. He also became the first player to score a century in each innings of his 100th Test match that year and won the ICC Test Player of the Year award. In the same year, he scored seven Test centuries and became the first Australian to score most Test centuries in a calendar year. Ricky Ponting was also named as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2006. During the 2006-07 Ashes series, he led his side to a spectacular 5-0 series victory against England and was awarded the Man of the Series for scoring 576 runs, including two centuries and two half-centuries, at an average of 82.29. That year, Ricky Ponting won the ICC Player of the Year and the ICC Captain of the Year awards. On January 6, 2008, he guided his team to a world record 16th consecutive Test win in a match against India. A few days later, in the third Test at Perth, he became the leading run scorer on Australian soil surpassing Allan Border’s record of 5,743 runs.
In a match against West Indies at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on May 30, 2008, Ricky Ponting scored his 10,000th Test match run and became the third Australian to achieve this feat. As of 2008, Ricky Ponting has scored a total of 10,099 runs, including 35 centuries and 40 half-centuries from 119 Tests at an average of 58.37. As captain, he has the highest victory rate in Test cricket.
Ricky Ponting made his One Day International (ODI) debut on February 15, 1995, in a match against South Africa at Wellington. He scored his first ODI ton in a match against Sri Lanka on January 9, 1996. A few years later, he was named as the captain of the Australian side and guided his side to 19-run victory over South Africa in his first game as captain on March 22, 2002. In the following year, Ricky Ponting led his side to its third World Cup title, guiding them on a undefeated winning streak spanning 11 matches throughout the tournament. In the tournament final, he was named the Man of the Match for his blistering knock of 140* off 122 balls against India. In the next edition of the World Cup, he again led his team undefeated to the tournament final, where Australia went on to win its third consecutive, and fourth overall World Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka. World Cup has always been special for him, and he holds the record for the most sixes in a World Cup innings (8) and most centuries in World Cups (4). He has been a highly successful ODI captain and has led his side to 122 victories, a feat that gives him the highest victory rate as ODI captain. Ricky Ponting also holds the record for the most Cricket World Cup victories as captain with 22 in addition to the record for most Cricket World Cups won as captain. As of 2008, Ricky Ponting has scored a total of 11,113 runs, including 26 centuries and 64 half-centuries from 301 ODIs.
Ricky Ponting made his International T20 (T20I) debut in a match against New Zealand at Auckland on February 17, 2005. As of 2008, Ricky Ponting has scored total of 315 runs from 11 T20Is at an average of 39.37 with a personal best of 98 not out. In 2008, Ricky Ponting signed with the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Kolkata Knight Riders on a contract worth $400,000 and made his debut for this side on April 18, 2008 in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In the cricketing world, Ricky Ponting is known by his nickname "Punter" because of his interest in betting on horse and greyhound races. Besides cricket, he enjoys playing golf during his spare time.
Ricky Ponting has written Captain's Diary in 2007 and has also co-authored other books.
