A triumph-filled career
Not only did Ricky Ponting set lofty standards with the bat and in the field, he also led Australia through an unprecedented period of dominance in ODI history

Ricky Ponting, the second-highest run-getter in ODIs, was also by far the most successful captain in the shorter form • Getty Images
Ponting reserved his best quite often for the crucial games and nowhere was this more evident than in the World Cup. He started his glittering run in World Cups with 102 against West Indies in Jaipur in the 1996 tournament but had a slightly disappointing 1999 World Cup in England where he scored just one half-century. However, as the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, he scored two centuries in the tournament leading Australia to their second consecutive triumph. In the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, after a sedate start to his innings, he switched gears and put the game beyond India's reach with an outstanding unbeaten 140, which included a record eight sixes. Fittingly, he ended his World Cup career with another vital century, though Australia lost the match to India in Ahmedabad. Although Ponting finished as the second-highest run-getter in World Cups behind Tendulkar, he scored the most centuries (4) by any player against the top ODI teams in World Cups. His excellent average of 52.00 against the top teams (all Test teams excluding ZImbabwe and Bangladesh) is bettered only by Viv Richards' 66.46 among batsmen with 900-plus runs in World Cups. Ponting also ended as the highest six hitter in World Cup history with 31 sixes.
Player | Matches | Runs | Average | SR | 100/50 |
Sachin Tendulkar | 31 | 1397 | 48.17 | 85.02 | 3/10 |
Ricky Ponting | 30 | 1352 | 52.00 | 80.09 | 4/6 |
Viv Richards | 21 | 997 | 66.46 | 84.63 | 3/5 |
Javed Miandad | 29 | 994 | 41.41 | 66.35 | 1/7 |
Graham Gooch | 19 | 876 | 46.10 | 63.20 | 1/8 |
Brian Lara | 23 | 846 | 38.45 | 82.61 | 2/5 |
During the course of his career, Ponting produced strong performances in almost all countries. He finished as the highest run-getter in the Australian tri-series and scored nine centuries in those matches. He averaged the highest against England (48.42) with five centuries, including four outside Australia. Surprisingly, he failed to perform against India and Pakistan at home (average of 28.33 and 25.68 respectively) but averaged 45.94 and 56.27 against the two teams in away/neutral games. He was also dominant in matches against Australia's trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand, especially in home games where he averaged close to 55 with five centuries. Although he failed to score a single hundred against South Africa at home, two of his centuries came in away ODIs, including his highest score of 164 in the famous Johannesburg ODI in 2006 when the hosts chased down the target of 435. Ponting was prolific in home ODIs, scoring 13 centuries at 39.17 but did better outside Australia, scoring 17 centuries and averaging 44.13.
Opposition | Home (Matches/Runs) | Home (avg, 100/50) | Away/neutral (matches/runs) | Away/neutral (avg, 100/50) |
England | 15/547 | 49.72, 1/4 | 24/1051 | 47.77, 4/4 |
India | 18/510 | 28.33, 2/1 | 41/1654 | 45.94, 4/8 |
New Zealand | 20/878 | 54.87, 5/2 | 31/1093 | 40.48, 1/10 |
Pakistan | 20/488 | 25.68, 0/4 | 15/619 | 56.27, 1/4 |
South Africa | 22/849 | 38.59, 0/7 | 26/1030 | 41.20, 2/6 |
Sri Lanka | 25/796 | 46.18, 3/3 | 21/853 | 50.17, 1/7 |
West Indies | 19/774 | 45.52, 1/7 | 26/701 | 29.20, 1/5 |
Playing for most of his career in a team filled with brilliant batsmen, Ponting often forged match-winning top-order stands in ODIs. His partnership with Adam Gilchrist was the most prolific, yielding 3607 runs at an average of 46.84 with eight century stands. He shared the most century partnerships with Michael Clarke (11) and Matthew Hayden (10). He also aggregated over 3000 partnership runs with the classy Damien Martyn. Perhaps the most famous partnership of theirs came in the 2003 World Cup final when they shared an unbroken 234-run third-wicket stand to boost Australia to a massive 359. A stand-out aspect of Ponting's Test and ODI careers has always been the uncanny ability to raise his game when the team has struggled. Most notably, with Australia on the brink at 10 for 3 against Sri Lanka in the second tri-series final in 2006, he and Andrew Symonds shared an Australian tri-series record 237-run stand and lifted Australia to 368 thus deflating the opponents, who went on to lose the best-of-three finals 2-1. Ponting also remains the only player to be involved in seven double-century stands in ODIs, with the highest of 252 coming against England in the Champions Trophy semi-final in 2009.
Partner | Innings | Runs | Average | 100/50 |
Adam Gilchrist | 81 | 3607 | 46.84 | 8/20 |
Matthew Hayden | 73 | 3514 | 52.44 | 10/15 |
Mark Waugh | 65 | 3033 | 48.91 | 6/18 |
Damien Martyn | 62 | 3015 | 51.98 | 8/14 |
Michael Clarke | 57 | 2719 | 51.30 | 11/9 |
Batsman | Runs | Runs in wins | 100s | 100s in wins | % runs in wins | % 100s in wins |
Ricky Ponting | 13704 | 10726 | 30 | 25 | 78.26 | 83.33 |
Jacques Kallis | 11481 | 7995 | 17 | 13 | 69.63 | 76.47 |
Sanath Jayasuriya | 13430 | 8873 | 28 | 24 | 66.06 | 85.70 |
Mahela Jayawardene | 10235 | 6494 | 15 | 14 | 63.44 | 93.33 |
Inzamam-ul-Haq | 11739 | 7434 | 10 | 7 | 63.32 | 70.00 |
Brian Lara | 10405 | 6553 | 19 | 16 | 62.97 | 84.21 |
Sourav Ganguly | 11363 | 6938 | 22 | 18 | 61.05 | 81.81 |
Sachin Tendulkar | 18179 | 11060 | 48 | 33 | 60.83 | 68.75 |
Kumar Sangakkara | 10019 | 5829 | 12 | 8 | 58.17 | 66.66 |
Rahul Dravid | 10889 | 5729 | 12 | 8 | 52.61 | 66.66 |
Ponting took over from Steve Waugh as Australia's ODI captain following Australia's failure to qualify for the tri-series finals in 2001-02. In his first series as captain, Ponting led Australia to a 5-1 win in South Africa. After their win in the tri-series at home in 2002-03, Australia embarked on a record winning streak of 21 matches between January 2003 and May 2003. Not only did Ponting finish as the most successful ODI captain (165 wins), he also became only the second player after Clive Lloyd to lead his team to two World Cup wins and also featured in four World Cup finals. Under his leadership, Australia extended their dominance to the Champions Trophy, a tournament in which they had previously struggled. With wins in the tournament in India (2006) and South Africa (2009), Ponting's status as arguably the greatest ODI captain was confirmed. Only he and Allan Border finished with more than 100 ODI wins as captains but Ponting's win percentage of 71.73 was far higher than that of Border (60.11). Australia's win-loss ratio under Ponting (71.47) is only matched by South Africa's under Hansie Cronje, although the latter captained in 92 fewer matches.
Player | Matches | Wins | Losses | Win % | W/L ratio |
Ricky Ponting | 230 | 165 | 51 | 71.73 | 3.23 |
Allan Border | 178 | 107 | 67 | 60.11 | 1.59 |
Hansie Cronje | 138 | 99 | 35 | 71.73 | 2.82 |
Stephen Fleming | 218 | 98 | 106 | 44.95 | 0.92 |
Graeme Smith | 150 | 92 | 51 | 61.33 | 1.80 |