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 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