Talking about dominating World Cricket, two teams comes to mind - West Indies in the 70s and 80s and Australia in the 2000s. When Australia was dominating World Cricket, there was a man who was part of the domination from start to end. Infact, he was the captain of Australia for major part of that domination. Yes, he is the legend Ricky Ponting, who turns 49 today. Here we take a look at his celebrated cricketing career.
Statistically speaking, he has been one of the most successful captains in World Cricket. When he retired from international cricket, he was the second leading run scorer in international cricket and also had the second most centuries in international cricket. Not to forget, he was one the greatest fielders of all time.
Test Cricket
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Ricky Ponting made his Test Debut at the W.A.C.A Ground against Sri Lanka in 1995. His final test appearance too came at this ground against South Africa in 2012. Here's how he fared as batsman in his 17 years Career :-
|
Matches |
168 |
|---|---|
|
Innings |
287 |
|
Not Out |
29 |
|
Runs |
13378 |
|
Average |
51.85 |
|
Strike Rate |
58.72 |
|
100s |
41 |
|
50s |
62 |
|
Highest |
257 |
He led Australia in 77 matches, winning 48 and loosing 16. 13 games ended in a draw. He led Australia in Test Cricket from 2004 to 2010.
Analysis of his Test Career :
Courtesy By: pingimg.com
Till 2006, Ricky Ponting averaged 59.38 in Test Cricket. The period of 1999-2006 were his peak years, where he averaged 65.44. He averaged 40.15 during 2007-2012, which made his career average fall to 51.85. He scored over 1000 runs in five different calendar years. 1544 in 2005 was his most runs in a calendar year, but 2003 was undoubtedly his best year in Test Cricket. He scored 1503 runs in 2003 at an staggering average of 100.20.
He scored over 2000 runs against England, India and South Africa. He scored the most runs against England(2476), but also he had the lowest average against them - 44.21. He averaged 40+ against all the countries he played.
He played 92 matches at Home scoring 7578 runs at an average of 56.98 hitting 23 tons. In the 76 games that he played away from home, he scored 5800 runs at an average of 46.40. He hit 18 tons away from home. He maintained 40+ average in all the countries where he played atleast 2 matches, barring India. He scored hundreds against all test playing nations he played against.
Out of his13378 career runs, 9904 runs came at no.3. 32 off his 41 centuries also came batting at no.3. He averaged 61.40 in First Innings, 52.92 in Second Innings, 38.55 in Third Innings and 50.41 in Fourth Innings.
Notable Test Records :
Courtesy By: pingimg.com
He has played the most Test matches for Australia and 3rd most overall(168).
He is the second leading run scorer in Test Cricket with 13378 runs against his name.
Among the leading century makers in Test Cricket, he is at the 3rd position with 41 centuries.
He is the only cricketer to score centuries in both the innings of a Test Match thrice. He is also the only cricketer to score 100s in both innings of the 100th test .
He has 103 50+ scores in Test Cricket, the joint second most.
He is the joint second fastest to 12000 Test runs in terms of innings(247).
He has 196 catches in Test Cricket, the fourth highest in World Cricket.
He hit 7 Test hundreds in 2006. It is the joint second most in a calendar year.
He has the 5th most Player of the Match Award in Test Cricket(16).
He has played the fourth most matches as captain in Test(77).
He has won the second most matches as captain in Test(48).
His Win Percentage of 62.34 is the 3rd best by any captain in Test Cricket.(min 20 Matches)
ODI Cricket
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Ricky Ponting made his ODI debut against South Africa at the Basin Reserve in 1995. He went on to play ODI cricket till 2012. His last ODI came against India at the Gabba. Here's how he fared as a batsman in ODI Cricket:-
|
Matches |
375 |
|---|---|
|
Innings |
365 |
|
Not Out |
39 |
|
Runs |
13704 |
|
Average |
42.04 |
|
Strike Rate |
80.39 |
|
100s |
30 |
|
50s |
82 |
|
Highest |
164 |
Ricky Ponting led Australia in 229 ODIs and ICC World XI in 1 ODI, winning 165 and loosing 51.
Analysis of his ODI career :
Courtesy By: pbs.twimg.com
Ricky Ponting scored over 1000 runs in the calendar years 1998,1999,2003,2007 and 2009. 2007 was the most prolific year for Ricky Ponting, when he scored 1424 runs at an average of 79.11 and a strike rate of 91.69. He hit 5 hundreds and 8 fifties in just 24 innings.
He amassed the most runs against India(2164) and also hit the joint most centuries against India(6). In all the countries where he played more than 10 games, he averaged atleast 39. He averaged 39.17 at Home, while he averaged 45.04 at away and 42.77 at neutral venues. He scored 8630 runs at an average of 42.09 batting first, while 5074 came in run chases at an average of 41.93. He scored 12662 runs batting at no.3 with 29 hundreds at an average of 42.48.
He scored 1743 runs at an average of 45.86 with 5 hundreds in World Cup, which included 140* against India in the 2003 WC Final. He also scored 593 runs in ICC Champions Trophy at an average of 39.53.
As captain, he won 4 ICC Trophies for Australia. He won the 2003 and 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup as captain, where Australia was unbeaten in the 11 games they played in each tournament. He also led Australia, when they won the 2006 and 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.
Notable ODI Records
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He is the 4th leading run-scorer in ODI Cricket with 13704 runs.
He has the 4th most player of the match awards in ODI(32).
He has played the most number of ODIs as captain(230).
He has hit the 4th most number of centuries in ODI(30).
He has the 4th most 50+ scores in ODIs(112)
He is the third fastest to 13000 runs in ODI in terms of Innings (341).
He has the 2nd most catches in ODIs(160).
He has the 6th most player of the series award in ODIs(7).
His win percentage of 71.74 in ODIs as captain is the 4th best in ODIs(best among the captains with atleast 100 matches as captain).
T20I Cricket
Courtesy By: hscicdn.com
He played 17 T20I matches scoring 401 runs at an average of 28.64 and strike rate of 132.78. His highest score of 98* came in his debut game. He also led Australia to the semi finals of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.
Combined Test, ODI and T20I Record
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Ricky Ponting scored 27483 runs in his international cricket career, which is the 3rd most by any cricketer.
He scored 2833 runs in international cricket in the calendar year 2005. It is the second most by any player in a calendar year.
He hit 11 hundreds in international cricket in the year 2003. It's the joint second most by any cricketer in a calendar year.
He has hit the 3rd most 50+ scores in international cricket(217).
He has the 2nd most catches in international cricket(364).
He is the only cricketer to win 4 ICC Trophies as captain and 5 ICC Trophies as a player.
Legacy
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Ricky Ponting will surely go down as one of the all time greatest of the game of Cricket. In his illustarious career of 17 years, he achieved things which probably no one has achieved till date - Over 27000 international runs, more than 70 hundreds in International Cricket and winning four ICC Trophies as captain, including two back to back World Cup. He not only scored tons of runs, but also he was beautiful to watch. He was a batsman for whom people would pay to match. He had many lovely shots in his book. He was arguably among the greatest to play the pull shot.
Though one would argue he had a great team, but what he achieved as a captain was tremendous. He was the best man to lead a team of superstars and his body language in the cricket field was a thing to follow. Many people would say that he was not a gentleman in the cricket field, but that hardly matters your team is way best in both formats of the game.
