Ricky Ponting's debut in International Cricket
Ricky Ponting made his debut for Australia at a very young age of 20. Ponting, who ended up as Australia’s most successful captain made his One Day International debut in February 1995 against South Africa at Wellington. Chasing a modest target of 124, Austraila found themselves in dire straits at 56-5. Ponting walked out to bat at number 4, but lasted only six deliveries before being clean bowled by Eric Simons. Australia went on the win the match (as well as the quadrangular tournament). Ponting scored his first half century in One Day Cricket against India later in the series, finishing on 62. Ten months later, Ponting played in his first Test Match in December 1995 against Sri Lanka on the back of some consistent performances in domestic and limited overs cricket right through the year.
Sri Lanka batted first and managed only 251. Coming into bat at number 5, Ponting found a brilliant platform to launch his Test match career. Australia’s openers Michael Slater and Mark Taylor put on a commanding opening stand of 228 runs. Ponting walked out to bat with the score at 422-3, and didn’t take long to launch into the tiring Sri Lankan bowling attack. Ponting batted freely and fearlessly on his Test match debut at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Stadium in Perth, and came within four runs of scoring a Test century on debut. He eventually finished on 96 off 184 balls, and ensured Australia extended their lead well past 350.
Ricky Ponting ranks high in the list of the finest batsmen to play in the modern generation. Besides being a prolific run-scorer in both Test and One Day Cricket, he is a proven match-winner and also amongst the finest batsmen to play at the number 3 position in the history of the game. Ponting has been a part of three World Cup winning sides, the last one being in 2007, when he was the captain too. In 2003, Ponting struck a magnificent 140* at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg as Australia thrased India by 125 runs to win their second consectutive World Cup. Ponting also captained Australia to a 5-0 whitewash in the 2006-07 Ashes series, the first Ashes whitewash since 1920-21, after Australia failed to beat England in England the previous year.