
Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania in November
1992, when just 17 years and 337 days old, becoming the youngest Tasmanian to
play in a Sheffield Shield match. However, he had to wait
until 1995 before making his One Day International (ODI) debut, during
a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in a match against South Africa. His Test
debut followed shortly after, when selected for the first Test of the 1995 home
series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in
which he scored 96. He lost his place in the national team several times in the
period before early-1999, due to lack of form and discipline, before becoming
One Day International captain in early-2002 and Test captain in early-2004.
Those
results didn't stop him from becoming the most successful captain in Test
history after passing Steve Waugh's 41 wins in the 2009-10 Boxing Day Test. In
the same match he overtook Shane Warne's 92 victories as the most by an
individual, and he led Australia to 34 consecutive undefeated World Cup games.
He stepped down from the captaincy when that run ended, in the 2011 World Cup.
For the first three years of his reign he was in charge of a superstar unit and
did not have to decide much tactically, but once that group headed for
retirement he had to change from a manager to moulder.
As
a batsman the only debate is where to rank him in the high reaches of the
game's greatest run-makers. Acclaimed by Academy coach Rod Marsh as the best
teenage batsman he had ever seen, Ponting began with Tasmania at 17 and
Australia at 20, and was given out unluckily for 96 on his Test debut. There
were some teething problems, including a public admission of an alcohol
problem, but the longer he went on the more he matured, building up records and
runs.

As of 18 July 2012
Ponting has 165 Test matches to his name and during the Sri Lanka series in
2013 could also see him creating history by becoming the most capped Australian
player. Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, has 168 Test appearances.
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