Name	Ricky Ponting
Height	5 ft 10 in
Naionality	Australian
Date of Birth	19-December-1974
Place of Birth	Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Famous for	Cricketer

Rickey Ponting nicknamed Punter, is an Australian former cricketer, and former captain of the Australia national cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic cricket, the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League, and played in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.

He is widely considered by many to be the best batsman of the modern era, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid of India, Mahela Jayawardene , Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies and Jacques Kallis of South Africa. On 1 December 2006, he reached the highest rating achieved by a Test batsman in the last 50 years. Ponting's domestic performances were rewarded when he was selected for the Australian ODI team to play in all the matches in the 1995 New Zealand Centenary quadrangular tournament in New Zealand that also included South Africa and India. Ponting made his debut against South Africa at number six in the batting order. He scored one from six balls, as Australia successfully chased South Africa's target on a difficult batting track. Australia secured another victory in their next match, this time against New Zealand in Auckland, where Ponting scored 10 not out, after coming to wicket late in the innings. His highest series score came in the third International where Australia lost to India in Dunedin. Ponting was promoted to number three in the batting order and responded by scoring 62 from 92 balls. The innings was scored without a boundary and was based on "deft placement and judicious running." The loss failed to stop Australia from appearing in the final against New Zealand in Auckland. Ponting returned to number six and was seven not out when the winning runs were scored. He finished the series with 80 runs at 40 and strike rate of 71.42 runs per hundred balls. In 2011, Ponting was inducted into Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) 'Best of the Best'.

He was selected in Michael Clarke's teams for the tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2011, scoring an important half-century (62) in the fourth innings of the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, helping Australia chase down a target of 309 to draw the series 1–1. In the 2011–12 Australian summer, a disappointing series draw with New Zealand gave rise to calls for Ponting to be removed from the team following perceived underperformances. The selectors resisted the calls, selecting Ponting for the Boxing Day Test—the first of a four-Test series against India. Ponting scored two half-centuries in Australia's first Test win, followed by a century (134) in Australia's first innings of the second Test in Sydney. The century was his first in Test cricket in almost two years.

His fourth-wicket partnership of 288 runs with Clarke, who went on to make 329 not out, set a new record for the biggest partnership by an Australian pair of batsmen against India. Australia sealed the series win by defeating India in Perth, and in the fourth Test in Adelaide, Ponting and Clarke beat their own record, putting on 386 runs. The partnership was the fourth highest to that point in Australian Test cricket. Ponting's own score was 221. During the innings, he became only the third player and the first Australian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who were playing in the same match) to pass 13,000 career Test runs On Australia Day 2012 he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to cricket and, through the Ponting Foundation, the community.

Ponting was promoted to captain in the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia in Michael Clarke's absence due to injury. However after only two games as captain he was dropped, having scored only 18 runs in 5 games of the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series. At a press conference thereafter, Ponting conceded, "I don't expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I'm pretty sure the selectors don't expect to pick me either ... I will continue playing Test cricket and I'll continue playing for Tasmania as well". On 29 November 2012 Ponting announced that he would retire from Test cricket after the WACA test against South Africa.