Key Achievements
 
Ricky Ponting is considered one of the best batsmen in the history of the modern game, and is currently ranked 4th in ODI's and 7th in Test Cricket: Graeme Smith, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Yousuf are the only ones that lead him in the One-Day International Batting chart. 

He is the only cricketer to have twice scored more than 1500 runs in Test matches in a calendar year (2003 and 2005) and on 3 December 2006 overtook Steve Waugh as the leading Australian century maker with 33 Test centuries. He now has 36 and lies second in highest number of Test centuries in the history of cricket, four behind world leader Sachin Tendulkar. He is also the third fastest batsmen ever to reach 10,000 runs in Test matches.  He has scored over 10,000 Test runs at an average near 59, but since the February 2002 tour of South Africa (when he was elevated to the ODI team captaincy) he has scored 24 of his Test centuries and averaged above 74, leading to comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman. Ponting is also Australia's leading ODI run-scorer and century maker. He has the second most test centuries ever, behind only Tendulkar. 

His century against the West Indies in Jaipur at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the youngest ever World Cup centurion, and his unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup final was the highest by a captain in a World Cup final. 

In 2007 Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at St Kitts, Ponting became the first Australian to reach 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket and the 7th in world cricket to achieve this distinction. He recently reached 10000 test runs against the West Indies in June 2008 and crossed 11000 ODI runs in the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008.