Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting is an Australian cricketer who captained the national Test team from 2004-2011 and the ODI team from 2002-2011. In fact, Punter, as he's fondly known, is the most successful Australian captain of all time, with 48 victories in 77 Tests. He is also the first cricketer in history to be involved in 100 Test victories.The highlight of Ponting's career as captain was when he led Australia to two World Cup wins, in 2003 and 2007.[caption id="attachment_104571" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Ricky Ponting is one of Australia's greatest cricketers. Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images"][/caption]Ponting has 12,487 runs from 154 Test matches averaging 53.13. He has 39 centuries and 56 half-centuries in Tests. In ODIs, Ponting has 13,602 runs from 367 matches at an average of 42.77. He has 30 centuries and 81 half-centuries in the 50-over format. In T20s, Ponting has scored 401 runs from 17 matches at an average of 28.64.A specialist right-handed batsman, Ponting made his ODI debut in 1995 against South Africa during a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand. He made his Test debut in the first Test of the 1995 home series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96.Born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 19 December 1974, Ponting is the eldest of Graeme and Lorraine Ponting's four children. Ponting married long-time girlfriend and law student Rianna Jennifer Cantor in June 2002 and the couple has two daughters.