Ricky Ponting Shaun Young. It also included five future Test batsmen: Matthew Hayden, Matthew Elliott, Martin Love, Justin Langer and Stuart Law. Despite not batting as well as he "would have liked", Ponting returned to Australia with the fourth highest batting average—48.73. Tasmania toured Zimbabwe for five games ahead of the 1995–96 Sheffield Shield. Ponting struggled, aggregating 99 runs at a modest 24.75. By the end of October, he had signed a contract with the Australian Cricket Board, along with 22 other Australian cricketers. He opened the batting with Boon in Tasmania's first match of the Sheffield Shield season, scoring 20 and
Early life of Ricky Ponting A, who were pepped up and firing. Of course it gave the Australia A guys a chance to break into the Australian team, but to me the focus of the summer was on beating the Poms [England] in the Tests and winning the World Series, not beating our own Australian mates." Despite the negative feedback, the concept gave Ponting a chance on the international stage, and he scored 161 runs at 26.83 with one half-century.<ref name="World Series Cup in Aust. Dec 1994/Jan 1995 - Batting Averages"> </ref> Two weeks after the World Series, Ponting was selected in the squad for