Ricky Ponting Sri Lanka won by six wickets. The defeat consequently eliminated Australia from the tournament. In Australia's two drawn warm-up matches ahead of the 2009 Ashes, Ponting struggled to adjust to the English conditions, somewhat, with a highest score of 71. Nevertheless, he started the Ashes series strongly, scoring 150 in the First Test in Cardiff. In his 38th hundred and eighth in an Ashes series, the Australian number three batsman became just the fourth man to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket. The match ended in a draw and Ponting drew criticism for failing to bowl fast-bowler Ben Hilfenhaus while
Ricky Ponting final because they finished higher than their opposition on the Super Six table. They comfortably accounted for Pakistan in the final, winning by eight wickets, after they were set a target of 132. Ponting scored 24 in Australia's first World Cup win since 1987. He ended the tournament with 354 runs at 39.33. Australia soon travelled to Sri Lanka for a three-Test series, which they lost 1–0. Ponting was one of Australia's few effective players during the tour and was Man-of-the-Series, ending with 253 runs at 84.33. In the First Test defeat at Kandy, Ponting scored 96 and 51, almost