Ricky Ponting batsmen against India. Australia sealed the series win by defeating India in Perth, and in the fourth Test in Adelaide, Ponting and Clarke beat their own record, putting on 386 runs. The partnership was the fourth highest to that point in Australian Test cricket. Ponting's own score was 221. During the innings, he became only the third player and the first Australian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who were playing in the same match) to pass 13,000 career Test runs. On Australia Day 2012 he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to cricket
Ricky Ponting Tasmanian to score a first-class century at 18 years and 40 days, eclipsing Boon's record of 19 years and 356 days. After scoring another half century, Ponting scored back to back centuries against Western Australia on Australia's fastest wicket in Perth. He became the youngest batsmen in Shield history to score twin centuries in a match. After setting a goal of scoring 500 runs in the season, he ended up scoring 781 at 48.81. After season's end, Ponting played seven four-day games for the Australian Academy, scoring 484 runs at 96.70, even though he was still only 18. Speculation ignited