Early life of Ricky Ponting two centuries in a match against Western Australia—the youngest player in Sheffield Shield history to do so. He played non-international games against national teams for Australia A in the 1994–95 World Series Cup, before making his Australian debut. Born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 19 December 1974, Ricky Thomas Ponting is the eldest of Graeme and Lorraine Ponting's three children. His brother Drew is two years younger, while sister Renee was born when Ponting was six. Their uncle Greg Campbell played cricket for Australia in 1989 and 1990. Graeme was "a good club cricketer" and played Australian rules, while Lorraine was
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