Ricky Ponting England's last-wicket pair of Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson were batting to save the match. Ponting could only manage two and 38, as Australia were defeated in the second Test at Lord's—their first Test defeat at the venue since 1934. On 31 July, during the Third Test at Edgbaston, Ponting became the highest Australian run-scorer in the history of Test cricket, overtaking former Australian captain Allan Border's total of 11,174 in his first-innings score of 38. The match was eventually drawn, partly due to poor weather. Australia went on to lose the series 2–1 and Ponting became only the third
Ricky Ponting half of Australia's match total of 328 runs. They lost the match by six wickets, partly due to being unable to handle the spin of Muralitharan who took eight wickets. The Second Test was severely interrupted by rain and Ponting scored just one in his only innings. He scored 105 not out in the Third Test in Colombo, his only Test century in Sri Lanka. Despite having a perceived weakness against spin, Ponting played Muralitharan the best out of all the Australian batsmen. He scored 31 as Australia won their inaugural Test against Zimbabwe by nine wickets. In the following