Ricky Ponting Zealand gave rise to calls for Ponting to be removed from the team following perceived underperformances. The selectors resisted the calls, selecting Ponting for the Boxing Day Test—the first of a four-Test series against India. Ponting scored two half-centuries in Australia's first Test win, followed by a century (134) in Australia's first innings of the second Test in Sydney. The century was his first in Test cricket in almost two years. His fourth-wicket partnership of 288 runs with Clarke, who went on to make 329 not out, set a new record for the biggest partnership by an Australian pair of
Ricky Ponting poorly and was forced to follow-on. In the second innings, Ponting was well set on a score of 48, and England was in some difficulty due to an injury to key paceman Simon Jones, when the Australian captain was run out by a direct hit from the substitute fielder (Gary Pratt). Ponting reacted angrily, directing an abusive tirade at the English support team in the pavilion concerning the liberal use of substitutes as he walked into the Australian rooms. England had routinely used substitutes so that their bowlers could receive massages between their spells, but in this case, Pratt was