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The Tasmanian Hero

by William Howarth (In Dec 2003)

Earlier this month Steve Waugh made a shocking decision to retire from international cricket after the upcoming test series against India. Most people expected him to play one final series against India in India, so he could try getting that final jewel in the crown. The obvious choice for Australian captain would be Ricky Ponting who had shown his test captaincy potential after leading Australia to World Cup victory earlier this year. It was no surprise a few days later that Cricket Australia announced that Ponting would be the man to take the reigns.

My small island state of Tasmania for the first time has a cricketer who is the captain of Australia which isn't surprising as international cricketers from Tasmania usually come few and far between. News of the Ponting's captaincy has caused a lot of excitement in Tasmania and it's especially great seeing that I'm from his home town of Launceston. Tasmania has only a population of 470,000 but has produced many fine cricketers over the years such as David Boon and Jamie Cox. Ricky Ponting was known to be rich in talent ever since he was 12 when he became the youngest person in the world to have a bat sponsor as he was signed by Kookaburra. Obviously people knew that in the future he would be a star. Ponting excelled in junior levels as he was already playing 1st/A Grade cricket when he was 12 and had made it into Youth State and National sides with ease.

His big break was when he had turned 17 in the 1992/93 season and had got selected to play for Tasmania and he made 56 on his debut verses South Australia. Ponting was an instant hit on the domestic scene and was pushing for selection after many good scores in the one-day and 4 day scene. Even at this early age he had shown the attributes that he has now which is being able to use every shot in the book and to score runs at a fast pace. His debut for Australia was in the 1994/95 season in the ODI's verses New Zealand, and in 1995/96 in Tests verses Sri Lanka where he scored 96. Ponting began his career batting down the order but was destined to eventually bat higher up the order. Ponting hadn't always been the leader that he is now as he got into a few fights in nightclubs in Calcutta in 1998 and then in Sydney in 1999.

But since then Ponting has been elevated to the honour of being ODI captain in 2002 after Steve Waugh's controversial dismissal from the side, and also has been elevated to Test vice-captain. There is no doubt that Ponting is the right man for the job, and that he'll be able to emulate Waugh's achievements maybe even excel them if he can get a Test series win in India next year. Ricky Ponting has the potential to step up to the next level and become a legend of Australian cricket in years to come.

 

Statistics of Ricky Ponting's Career :

 
    M    I   NO    Runs   HS    Ave     SR    100   50    Ct  St
   116  193  26    9776  257  58.53   58.86    34   39   133   0

   Balls    M    R     W    Ave    BBI   5   10    SR     Econ
    527    23   231    5   46.20   1-0   0    0  105.40  2.62

    M    I   NO   Runs   HS    Ave    SR    100  50   Ct  St
   298  289  35  11026  164  43.40  80.50    26  63  134   0

  Balls    M    R     W    Ave    BBI    4w  5w    SR   Econ
   150     0   104    3   34.66  1-12     0   0  50.00  4.16