Ricky Ponting- A journey from Perth to Perth
Ricky Ponting, the name that is discussed among all the cricket followers around the world. The stalwart of Australian cricket called it a day a couple of days ago. This decision came as a surprise for many. But we have to accept that he isn’t the player he was 3-4 years ago.
Entry to international arena:
Ricky Ponting was rewarded for his incredible domestic performance and he was selected to play against South Africa and he made his ODI debut against them in Perth followed by the series against New Zealand and India. Sri Lanka toured Australia in 1995-96. Ponting batted at no.5 due to Steve Waugh‘s absence and scored a matured 96 before getting out to Chaminda Vaas. The World series was followed by the Test series which Australia thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0. Ponting started the series batting at no. 4 but was moved one position up after Slater was dropped. In the 12th match of the series against Sri Lanka, Ponting scored his first ODI century scoring 123 from 138 balls. Ponting ended the series with 341 runs including three 50′s and a century.
1996 World Cup:
With some promising innings Ponting was selected in the Australian team for the 1996 World Cup in the subcontinent and batted at no 3 all through the tournament. It was an inconsistent series for Ponting aggregating 32.21, but he scored 102 against West Indies to become the youngest cricketer to score a century in a World Cup match. Australia faced Sri Lanka in the finals and went through a shocking defeat with Sri Lanka becoming the world champs for the first time.
Ups and downs:
Ponting was scoring consistently and cemented his place both in the ODI and Test teams. He was also selected in the squad which toured England for Ashes followed by the tour of subcontinent. Ponting struggled to score runs in India feeling difficult to cope up with the Indian condition with only scoring a 60 in the first innings of the second match. He only aggregated 21.00 and India won the series 2-1. Despite a tough series he continued his dominance in ODIs. Ponting scored 467 runs in the ODI series in India and Sharjah. Ponting was then dropped from the test team with his continuous failure and was replaced by Darren Lehman.
Ponting was then re called to the side to play against west indies following the failure of Darren Lehman in the Ashes series. Ponting got a chance to play in the third test and scored a matured 104. Series ended in favour of West Indies 2-1.
1999 world cup:
In the 1999 world cup Ponting scored 30′s and 40′s at regular phase. Australia continued their dominance through out the tournament. One cannot forget their epic clash with South Africa in the semi final that ended in a tie. They comfortably beat Pakistan in the finals. Ponting scored one half century and ended the series with the aggregate of 39.33.
DOMINANCE BEGAN:
Ponting continued to score runs consistently in noth the formats. Despite some series loss in sri Lanka and 2001 Ashes against England, Ponting just kept scoring. He became a permanent asset for Australia at no.3.
CAPTAINCY:
Steve Waugh was dropped from the odi side and was replaced by Ponting as captain. Ponting led the team win over SA at their own back yard which ended Waugh’s reign but the later continued to be the test captain. In the meanwile Ponting continued to score in test level as well scoring centuries against South Africa and Pakistan.
2003 World Cup
Ponting led the team to South Africa for the World Cup as defending champions. Ricky Ponting led Australian team dominated the entire tournament. They completely outplayed every team they faced and they were undefeated. Ricky Ponting was the main reason for Australia’s victory over India in the finals scoring an unbeaten 140 and helped the team for a mammoth 359-2 and defeated India to become the world champions for the third time.
DOMINANCE CONTINUED:
Ricky Ponting was then became the face of Australian cricket. He scored runs all over the world. He was called as the next Bradmen of the Australian cricket.
TEST CAPTAINCY:
After the test series against India Steve Waugh decided to retire from all forms of cricket. After his exit Ponting was appointed as the captain for the test team. Ponting saw a successful campaign in the 2004–05 Australian season. They won all five Tests, defeating New Zealand 2–0 and Pakistan 3–0. Ponting scored 145 runs at 72.50 against New Zealand in a winning start to his Test captaincy.
Shocking 2005 Ashes:
Australia went through an Ashes series defeat for the first time since 1987. Australia lost the series 1-2 despite some heroic knocks by Ponting and Gilchrist. The setback to Australia, and to Ponting as Australian captain, of the 2005 Ashes defeat, was to prove a strong motivation for the Australian camp to improve their standards and overcome any complacency that may have arisen from Australia’s being the world’s premier cricketing nation for a decade
Ricky Poning successfully completed 100 tests. He played his 100th test against South Africa in Adelaide (his favorite hunting ground) and scored centuries in both the innings. Ponting was in his rich vein of form scoring 515 runs at a stunning average of 103.00.
Ponting then lead the team for their first ever champions trophy triumph and regain the Ashes in 2006-07 in Australia. Ponting was awarded the man of the series award scoring 576 runs at an average of 82.29. Australia dominated the series winning the Ashes trophy 5-0.
2007 World Cup:
As like the 2003 World Cup Australians were unstoppable. Australia started its World Cup campaign with three group matches. Ponting himself began successfully with an innings of 113 from 93 deliveries. Australia comfortably qualified for the super eights. Australia then defeated all the six teams comfortably and won over South Africa in the semi final. Australia faced another sub continent team Sri Lanka followed by Pakistan(1999 final) and India(2003 final) in a 38 over match in the final and won the World Cup consecutively for the third time.
He continued his rich vein of form and became the third Australian to score 10,000 test runs. In the Second Test against West Indies, Ponting became the seventh player and third Australian to score 10,000 Test runs. It took Ponting 118 Tests and 196 innings to achieve the feat, one slower than Tendulkar and Lara. He was dismissed in the following over for 65. In 2008, Ponting led the Australians back to India and was under pressure following the confrontations during the Indian tour of Australia earlier in the year. He acknowledged that he was keen to rectify his poor Test batting record in India. In the First Test on a turning pitch in Bangalore, Ponting brought up his first Test century in India, 123 on the first day, although he fell leg before wicket to Harbhajan. Australia had the hosts seven wickets down in their first innings, still more than 320 runs to win, but India recovered to manage a draw.
Decline in form:
Ponting then suffered two back to back Ashes defeat as captain and was questioned for his ability. Australia’s heavy defeat in the series and Ponting’s poor run of form caused his position in the team to be questioned. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh suggested him to bat down the order.
2011 world cup:
Ponting retained the captaincy of Australia for the 2011 world cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Australia were knocked out by India in the quarter finals. Ponting resigned his position as captain at both Test and ODI levels, endorsed Micheal Clarke as his successor, and indicated his intention to continue playing.
RETIREMENT:
On 29 November 2012 Ponting announced that he would retire from test cricket after the perth test against South Africa. The former captain told a news conference in Perth he had decided to call it a day as he felt he could no longer contribute to the team in the way he once had, mostly due to a string of poor performances in the past 12 months, which also means he will not compete for The 2013 ashes series. “I’ve had moments of really good stuff, and prolonged moments of cricket that’s been below my expectations and below a par level for me, so there hasn’t been one dismissal or one moment, it’s just been in my own eyes reasonably consistent failure. That’s why I believe the time is right now to be making this decision”. Ponting Said
It’s really hard to take his decision, but good things must come to an end one day. GOOD BYE PUNTER.
CRICKET WILL MISS YOU FOR EVER.