| The right hand photo above shows a delighted Ricky Ponting celebrating
his century against England in the 1st Test of the 2009 series at
Cardiff. He went on to score exactly 150 in what was yet another
memorable innings from one of the greats of the game. Australia failed
to push home the advantage that their captain had provided however, and a
nailbiting finale saw the game finish in a draw after England's last
wicket pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar batted out the last 69
balls. The centre pictures above show Ricky in full flow during his
Cardiff 150 whilst the left hand photo shows him pulling during his
knock of 38 in Australia's 1st innings of the drawn 3rd test at
Edgbaston. It was during this innings that Ponting became the most
prolific run scorer in Australian Test cricket history by overtaking the
previous record of 11, 174 set by Allan Border, whose 156 Test career
ended in South Africa in 1994 (Ricky himself took 134 Tests to reach the
mark). Border, a former national selector as well as captain, praised
Ponting as being a deserved holder of the record: "Clearly, I am a great
admirer, having been involved in Ricky's selection in many great
Australian sides, and having enjoyed watching him closely on more
occasions than I can remember as a cricket media commentator as well" he
said. |