Wisden overview
Acclaimed by academy coach Rod Marsh as the best teenage batsman he had ever seen, Ricky Ponting began with Tasmania at 17 and Australia at 20, and was given out unluckily for 96 on Test debut. He was and remains the archetypal modern cricketer: he plays all the shots with a full flourish of the bat and knows only to attack, he bowls sharp medium-pace and occasional offbreaks, and his breathtaking, dead-eye fielding is a force in the game by itself. A gambler and a buccaneer, he is a natural at one-day cricket. He has had his setbacks, against probing seam attacks and high-class finger-spin, which, when out of form, he plays with hard hands. There have been off-field indiscretions that led him once to admit publicly to an alcohol problem, but he is part of the heartbeat of one of Australia's most successful teams and after the retirement of Ian Healy he took over as the man who led the singing of the victory song. With many lessons learned, Ponting is now entering his prime, and his growing maturity was acknowledged by the ACB when he saw off competition from Warne and Gilchrist to succeed Steve Waugh as Australia's one-day captain early in 2002. It was a seamless transition: Ponting led the successful 2003 World Cup campaign from the front, clouting a coruscating 140 not out in the final. Greg Baum

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