Ricky Ponting Waugh's retirement at the beginning of 2004 following the drawn home series against India, Ponting assumed the Test captaincy. Since 1997 the Australian team has not always had the same captain for Tests and for ODIs, with Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh being dropped from the ODI team whilst still the Test captain. Ponting started with a 3–0 clean sweep of the Test series in Sri Lanka. Ponting brought Symonds into the Test team on the back of strong ODI form, rather than first-class cricket, replacing Simon Katich, who had scored a century and unbeaten fifty in the last Test.
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