Early life of Ricky Ponting school system, studying at Mowbray Heights Primary and Brooks High School. Ponting received a bat sponsorship with Kookaburra Sport at 14, before being acclaimed the best 17-year-old batsman that Australian Cricket Academy coach Rod Marsh had ever seen. At 17 years and 337 days, Ponting made his first-class cricket debut for Tasmania, breaking David Boon's record as the youngest player to represent the state. Later in the season, he became the youngest Tasmanian to score a first-class century at 18 years and 40 days, eclipsing Boon's record of 19 years and 356 days. Further into the 1992–93 season, Ponting scored
Ricky Ponting the leading scorer for the series, compiling 375 runs at 125.00. He brought this form into the initial stages of the following 1999–2000 Carlton United ODI series, hitting 32 and 115, before three consecutive ducks. Ponting, however, ended the rut towards the back end of the series, stringing together 53, 43, 33, 50 and 78, as Australia won the tournament. Along with his impressive average of 40.4, Ponting's strike rate (87.06) was the highest of all recognised Australian batsmen. Perhaps more importantly, Ponting was selected as temporary vice-captain when Shane Warne was unavailable through injury, strengthening his claim for future