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
Ricky Ponting Ponting captained a Northern Territory XI against the West Indies in the lead-up to the upcoming series. Though not known for extravagant claims, Steve Waugh told a journalist that Ponting could easily be the best batsman in the world, and put him alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. When Jamie Cox was selected for Australia A, Ponting was selected as captain of Tasmania for a domestic one-dayer against Victoria in December. His men won by nine wickets, with Ponting scoring an unbeaten 64 from 69 balls. Australia white-washed the West Indies 5–0 in the Test series; Ponting scored a modest