Early life of Ricky Ponting Shield cricket this year and all of a sudden there's talk in the papers that I'm a chance go on an Australian tour of England. I think it's way out of reach — there are blokes like [South Australian] Jamie Siddons who have scored 20 or 30 first-class centuries who are ahead of me. Nevertheless, Shipperd thought Ponting could handle the experience: "A lot of attention affects different people in different ways, but Ricky is such a well-rounded young fella that it hasn't changed him. I've told him to enjoy the all the attention and if he just keeps on
Ricky Ponting a 3–0 whitewash in the Tests. In the series against the West Indies, Ponting scored a century in each innings of the First Test in Brisbane, 149 and 104 not out. In his first Test as captain in front of the Tasmanian public, Ponting managed 17 and 0 not out, and he ended the series with 329 runs at 82.25. Ponting was in a rich vein of form against the South Africans. After scoring 71 and 53 in the drawn First Test in Perth, Ponting scored 117 on Boxing Day in the Second Test at the MCG. Australia won the