Ricky Ponting Star Australian Batsman Family Photos Pictures and Wallpapers

Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974), nicknamed Punter, was the captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He is regarded as one of Australia's finest cricketers in the modern era. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic cricket and played in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.

Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania in November 1992, when just 17 years and 337 days old, becoming the youngest Tasmanian to play in a Sheffield Shield match. However, he had to wait until 1995 before making his One Day International (ODI) debut, during a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in a match against South Africa. His Test debut followed shortly after, when selected for the first Test of the 1995 home series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96. He lost his place in the national team several times in the period before early-1999, due to lack of form and discipline, before becoming One Day International captain in early-2002 and Test captain in early-2004.

After being involved in 151 Tests and 352 ODIs, Ponting is Australia's leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket, with more than 25,000 international runs as of July 2010. He has scored 39 Test centuries—behind only Indian Sachin Tendulkar (50), and South African Jacques Kallis (40)—and third for most runs in ODIs behind Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Ricky Ponting remains the most successful Australian captain of all time, with 48 victories in 77 Tests between 2004 and 31 December 2010, while as a player he has taken part in 99 victories, the most by anyone in history.