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Only cricketer to win ICC Player of the Year twice
Factbox on Ricky Ponting, following his resignation as captain of Australia's Test and one-day teams
- Played his first Test and One-Day International in 1995 and has gone on to establish himself as the one of the greatest batsmen and most successful captains the game has seen.
- Has scored 12,363 Test runs, including 39 centuries, and 13,288 ODI runs, including 30 centuries. Only India's Sachin Tendulkar has scored more international runs and hundreds than the Tasmanian.
- Ponting has won almost every individual award on offer in the game, including being named as the ICC player of the year in 2006 and 2007, the only man to win the award twice. He was also named the ICC's Test player of the year in 2006 and captain of the year in 2007.
He has a record 164 wins as captain in ODIs
- Nicknamed 'Punter', he took over from Steve Waugh as Australian one-day skipper in 2002 and led his team to victory in the 2003 World Cup, scoring an unbeaten 140 in the final. He led Australia to back-to-back World Cup titles in 2007. The only other captain to win successive World Cups was West Indian Clive Lloyd.
- Ponting captained Australia in 228 ODIs for 164 wins, 50 losses and 14 ties or no results. His 164 wins remains a record for any ODI captain.
- Ponting took over as Australia's 42nd Test captain when Steve Waugh retired in 2004 and enjoyed instant success but his leadership soon came under question when Australia lost the Ashes to England in 2005.
- Ponting avenged that defeat by steering Australia to a ruthless 5-0 whitewash against England in the 2006-7 Ashes series but the retirements of his senior players, including Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, suddenly left him leading a young and inexperienced team.
Ponting's successes overshadowed by defeats
- Australia lost a rare Test series at home to South Africa and were then beaten in each of the next two Ashes series, slipping down the world rankings and leading to calls for Ponting to step aside.
- Ponting captained Australia in a total of 77 Tests for 48 wins, 16 losses and 13 draws. His 48 wins remains a record for any international skipper, but his success was largely overshadowed by his losses and he ended his Test captaincy as the only Australian skipper to lose three Ashes series.
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