Ricky Ponting Biography | Career | Family | Net Worth

March 23, 2023

Table of Contents

Ricky Ponting Biography:

Australia is the most successful team in world cricket, but there were times when they were known as the “Invincibles” roughly from 1998 till 2010 during which they won the World Cup 3 times consecutively, under the captaincy of “Punter” or as we all know, the great Ricky Ponting. Some say that he is the best batsman that has ever worn an Australian jersey after Sir Donald Bradman.

In his gilded career, Ricky Ponting has 27082 runs in his name and Ricky Ponting total centuries that he scored in both the format is around 41 Times in Test cricket and 30 times in ODI cricket.

This article covers the entire journey of Ricky Ponting Biography.

Ricky Ponting Family:

He was born on 19^th December 1974 in Launceston, Australia. He had the cricketing blood in him since his birth, as his father Graeme Ponting was a good club cricketer and his uncle Greg Campbell, had also played for the Australian Cricket Team. His mother, Lorraine Ponting, was a sports-woman too. Ponting is the eldest son among the 4 children of the Ponting family.

He got married to his girlfriend Riana Ponting in June 2002 and has 3 children with her.

Ricky Ponting Career:

Ricky Ponting would become the most successful captain in the history of Cricket if the number of wins is the main criterion, He is the most successful captain of the dominating Australian side who has won two world cup gongs with his country in 2003 and in 2007.

In his captaincy tenure, Ricky Ponting team Australian have won 108 test matches and 262 One day International matches.

Early Career:

Ricky Ponting cricket journey started with his father and his uncle. Ponting played for Mowbray Under-13s when he was just 11 years old in 1985/86. Later, he took part in the Northern Tasmania junior cricket competition and scored 4 centuries in a week and was offered a sponsorship contract by Kookaburra at such young age, which showed how special a player Ponting was since his childhood days. He carried his form in Under-16s and again scored a century.

Ted Richardson, the former head of the Northern Tasmanian Schools Cricket Association said: “Ricky is certainly the equal of David Boon at this level”.

Ponting wasn’t only a cricketer, he was a proper sportsman who also used to play American Rules Football at senior level, but sadly stopped playing after a horrific arm injury and never played again.

Ponting also used to help with the scorecards at Sheffield matches, and also worked as a grounds-man after he quit school in 1990, and therefore had always been surrounded by International cricketers. Later, in 1991, Northern Tasmania Cricket Association sponsored Ponting to attend fortnight’s session at the Australian Cricket Academy. But, what was supposed to be a 2-week training session went on to become a 2-year contract with the cricket academy, because the coach Rod Marsh had never seen a 17-year old player playing with such ease and class.

Ponting made his first-class debut for North Tasmania in 1992 when he was only 17 years old, becoming the youngest Tasmanian to play first-class cricket. Speculations started to rise in 1993 that an 18-year old is set to debut for Australia, but later Damien Martyn was selected and Ricky Ponting was selected to play for the Academy team captained by Justin Langer to tour India and Sri Lanka. The Academy team played decent cricket but Ricky Ponting batsman stood out on the tour with his good batting performances.

After his successful tour, he went back to domestic cricket and scored 965 runs in the Season. Then, he was selected for the Academy team to play against India who was touring Australia in a 3-match limited over game, which was a successful series for Punter. Then, he returned back to the domestic circuit and impressed the then Queensland captain Allan Border.

Allan Border said: “He’s just an outstanding prospect”

Later, after a string of consistent performances by the legend, he finally made his international debut for Australia against South Africa in 1995 and scored 1*, 10* and 62 respectively in the 3 matches that Australia played in the quadrangular series until they lost to India and failed to reach the finals.

ODI Career:

His outstanding domestic performance rewarded and Ricky Ponting ODI cricket journey started with Australia when, he was also got selected for the 1995 New Zealand Centenary quadrangular tournament in New Zealand along with South Africa and India, and in that tournament Ricky Ponting ODI debut was made against Soth Africa.

Ricky Ponting who was always considered as a tough character on-field after the quadrangular series was being considered for West Indies tour when Ponting gave a statement that “It’s like all my birthdays coming at once”. The decision was to be made by the Australian Board, of whether to select Ponting or Langer. But, the odds were in favor of Ponting as Mark Waugh also gave out a statement that Ponting will not be intimated by the West Indian Bowlers and then, he was selected for West Indies tour and played the 3^rd and 5^th match of the series and scored 43 and 0 respectively.

Then, he played all 10 games of the World Series ODIs and scored 341 runs with a modest average of 34.10 including 3 half-centuries and a maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka. Later, he was also selected to play the 1996 World Cup, which was an eventful one for Ponting’s career. The character as he was, he played with a cap against the mighty West Indians to show some aggression and show them that he doesn’t fear them, which showed the confidence levels and the spark which is required to play for the Australian Cricket Team and he proved it as he went onto become the youngest player to score a World Cup century, against West Indies.

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There is a point in every cricketer’s career where he faces the worst run of form, and it came for him in 1996/97 where he was dropped from the Australian Cricket Team for 6 months due to a string of inconsistent and meager performances. 1997-99 was a difficult time for Ponting as he went in-out of the team time and again until he finally made a grand comeback into the Australian Team in 1999 and was never dropped again. And, the 1999 World Cup also turned out to be a good one for him where he scored 354 runs at an average of 39.33.

After a string of slump by the Australian ODI team, in February 2002, Mark Waugh was dropped and Ricky Ponting was appointed as the Captain of the Australian ODI team with Adam Gilchrist as the vice-captain. Tables turned for the Australian team as they beat South Africa in a bilateral away series. This was a major leap in Ricky Ponting Biography, and this giant leap also started influencing his batting as he was ripping apart the bowlers of each country all around the park.

Ricky Ponting captain the Australian side in the 2003 World Cup, where he had the pressure of defending champions and to retain the crown of the same. 2003 World Cup was a career-changing moment, as he scored 2 centuries, with the most crucial one coming against India in the finals at Johannesburg, Ricky Ponting 2003 world cup final inning was the most crucial innings in his career where he smashed the Indian bowlers and scored a brilliant 140 and giving India an impossible target of 360, which India failed to chase, and Australia has again crowned the champions of the world.

The biggest trivia of Ponting’s debut as a World Cup captain is, that Australia did not lose a single match in the 2003 World Cup, which as Ponting once said was the best world cup and best moment of my life to take Australia to a World Cup win, undefeated. And, also due to such a clean and unbeatable knock from the Captain in the finals, a rumor started surrounding as a joke that he played with a spring in his bat, which became the biggest rumor of his cricketing career and now, has become a part and parcel of his historic cricketing career.

2003 was a very special year for Punter as he scored the highest runs in a calendar year by an Australian. Australian captain Ricky Ponting also led his team to another World Cup win in 2007, defeating Sri Lanka, with Gilchrist’s brilliance in the final. Ponting is only the second captain to take his team to consecutive World Cup wins after Clive Lloyd (1975, 1979). Ricky Ponting played 375 ODIs in which he scored 13704 runs at an average of 42.04 including 30 centuries and 82 half-centuries with a highest score of 164 against South Africa.

Ricky Ponting world cup records as a captain are unmatchable by any player in this game of cricket, he has been a part of the dominating Australian team who won three back to back world cups in 1999,2003 and in 2007, and Ricky Ponting world cup wins with Australia was the most prestigious thing he has done in his professional career.

Ricky Ponting ODI centuries that he has scored Is around 30 times and he has also 82 half-centuries to his name in this format.

Test Career:

Ricky Ponting Australia debut in the Test Team was on 8^th December 1995 against Sri Lanka where he scored 96 runs which were a brilliant entry into Test Match cricket for the 20-year old. He scored his maiden test century, almost 2 years after his International Test Debut against England in Headingly, Leeds. This was merely a start to his unbelievable test match career, and a turner in Ricky Ponting biography as well.

Ricky Ponting has scored 41 centuries in Test Match cricket, in which 33 of his 41 centuries came after he became the captain of the Australian Test team, which showed, that the man had nerves of steel, and not only handled the pressure of captaining the Australian cricket team but also scored a huge amount of runs during that period. His highest Test cricket score of 257 is against India, where he ripped apart the likes of Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan who used to be the spine of the Indian bowling attack.

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Ricky Ponting’s biggest Test match success arrived when it was a captaining debut for him in Ashes (2002/03), and he scored a brilliant 123 in his debut match as a captain and again scored 154 in the next match and led Australia to a memorable 4-1 win over their arch-rivals England. He ended the series with over 400 runs at an average of 52.12, Ricky Ponting Ashes series in 2002/03 was the most memorable series in his test career.

Ricky Ponting captained Australia in 77 matches and maintained a win ratio of 62.30%, which made him the most successful captain of Test Match cricket. Ricky Ponting played a total of 168 matches and scored 13378 runs at an average of head-scratching 51.85, In this longer format of this game, Ricky Ponting Centuries stands 41 with(6- Double centuries.) and 62 half-centuries.

Ricky Ponting highest test score of 257 was made against India in the year 2003 at the MCG, Melbourne.

T20 Cricket:

He was never an integral part of the Australian T20I team, but he played the inaugural T20 World Cup 2007 where Australia was defeated by India in the Semi-Finals. Ricky Ponting played 17 matches and scored 401 runs at an average of 28.64, Ricky Ponting highest score in T20 cricket is 98 against New Zealand in 2005.

IPL career:

Ricky Ponting IPL debut was made with the two times IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008 and has played a meager 10 matches scoring 91 runs at an average of 10.11, which is not even remotely close to his exceptional batting abilities, after three years in the year 2011 Ricky Ponting KKR journey ends.

Ricky Ponting also played his part for Mumbai Indians as well where he later become one of the mentors of the franchise and later on he has been appointed as a head coach of Delhi Capitals, and thus it was a crucial stage in Ricky Ponting Biography.

He coach the team for two seasons, in 2014 and 2015.

During his coaching stint, the Mumbai Indians won the IPL championship in both years, making them the first team in the tournament’s history to win the title twice in a row. Under Ponting’s guidance, the team had a very successful run, with a win percentage of over 60% in both seasons.

Ponting brought his vast experience as a former Australian captain and player to the Mumbai Indians team, and was highly regarded for his strategic thinking, tactical knowledge, and ability to motivate players. He was also credited with helping to develop young talent and bringing out the best in established players.

Ricky Ponting Controversies:

In 1999, Ponting was involved in a club brawl, where it came to be known that he has a gambling and drinking problem, and therefore was banned from playing 3 matches, for the controversial behavior.
Ponting’s infamous nickname “Punter” was given to him by the spin legend Shane Warne due to his love for dog races and gambling since his academy days.
Ponting holds a negative record of most consecutive Ashes defeats as captain in England: 3 (shared with Billy Murdoch).
He came to be known as “foul-mouthed captain” after he lost his temper when Gary Pratt ran him out in the 4^th Test of Ashes 2005, and he was charged 75% of match fees by the referee.
The most famous incident took place in the 2008 Commonwealth Test Series, where he falsely claimed a catch of Saurav Ganguly in the slips and asked the umpire Steve Bucknor to give Ganguly out, which to everyone’s surprise was given out by the umpire.

Though Ricky Ponting will always have the respect of cricket fans as one of the greatest batsmen that have ever graced the cricket field and the most successful captain in the history of cricket. Every cricket fan will remember his unbelievable ability to play pull-shots and Indian cricket fans, will surely never forget his out-classed century in 2003 World Cup and the most controversial series (2008 Commonwealth) that has ever been played between India and Australia.

Ricky Ponting Retirement and Post-Retirement:

After a humiliating loss against India in the 2011 World Cup Quarter-finals, he was sacked as the captain of the team Australia, and after a string of bad performances in tri-series against India and Sri-Lanka, he decided to give ODI cricket, a goodbye and Ricky Ponting last match in ODI against India in February 2012. And, after some time, also decided to give up Test cricket and Ricky Ponting last test match against South Africa in December 2012.

Ponting was appointed as an assistant coach for World Cup 2019, and currently, he works as a commentator. His net-worth as per June 2019 was $65 million, which is close to 450 Crore Indian rupees.

Ricky Ponting Records and Achievements:

Rickey Ponting Records in Test Cricket:

Second most Test victories as captain: 48 (Graeme Smith-53).
Most consecutive matches won as a captain: 16.
Most Test caps by an Australian Player: 168 Test caps 168 shared with Steve Waugh.
The first cricketer to be involved in 100 Test victories. He achieved the feat against Sri Lanka in the 1st Test at Galle.
Most Test runs by an Australian: 13,378 runs (Ashes,2009- broke the record of Allan Border).
Third overall and the first Australian batsman to pass 13,000 Test runs (Achieved at Adelaide Oval, against India).
Leading run-scorer in Australia ( 7,578 runs in 92 Tests) (surpassed Alan Border against India in 2008).

Most Test Centuries by an Australian: 41.
Most 50+ innings by an Australian batsman: 103 innings of 50 runs or more.
Most centuries in Australia: 23 (this also equals the record for the most centuries at home by any player)
Most Test centuries in a calendar year by an Australian: 7 in 2006.
Most Test runs in a calendar year by an Australian: 1,544 in 2005(Surpassed by Michael Clarke in 2015). He has passed 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year on five separate occasions, in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008.
Equal most times scoring 100 runs in both innings of a Test(3- shared with Sunil Gavaskar).
The only batsman in the history of cricket to score a century in each innings of his 100th Test match – achieved against South Africa in 2005 scoring 120 and 143*.
First batsman to score over 1,000 runs at four individual grounds (Adelaide Oval, the Gabba, MCG, and SCG).
Highest Test score by a batsman in a losing side: 242 against India, Adelaide 2003–04.
The fifth batsman in history to score double-centuries in back-to-back Test matches: 242 at Adelaide and 257 at the MCG against India in 2003-04.
First Australian batsman to score 40 or more Test centuries for Australia: achieved against India Sydney 2011-12.
Most double centuries against one team: 3 against India: 257, 242 and 221
Most Test centuries against one team: 8 against India.
Most runs in a calendar decade, 9103 in ODIs and 9458 in Tests in the 2000s.
Most Test catches by an Australian fielder (non-wicket-keeper): 196 Catches.

Ricky Ponting Records in ODI Cricket:

Most ODI matches as a captain: 230 ( W-165, L-51, T-2, N/R-12).
Most ODI victories as a captain: 165.
Most cricket World Cups won as captain: 2 (shared with Clive Lloyd).
Most consecutive World Cup matches without a loss: 35.
Most ODI appearances for an Australian: 375.
Most ODI centuries for an Australian: 30.
Most ODI runs by an Australian: 13,704.
Most ODI half-centuries by an Australian: 81.
Most games played in World Cup: 45.
Most World Cup centuries by an Australian: 5.
Third-Highest run-getter in ODI cricket: 13,704 (K. Sangakkara-second, Sachin Tendulkar-first).

Ricky Ponting Net Worth:

The Net Worth of the former Australian skipper is around $65 million, which he earns most of the money from his professional cricketing career and also been the part of the IPL previously as a player and as a mentor for Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, and in his cricketing career, he has endorsed any brands as well.