Ian ConstantinePonting is the best, can anybody stop him?
September 11th 2007 08:21
Finally, the ICC has got something right! It has been a tough year for cricket's governing body; a farcical World Cup and the emerging threat of the Twenty20 leagues would have Malcolm Speed suffering from constant motion sickness. Things may be turning around however with Ricky Ponting being named ICC player of the year; the first person to be named in successive years.¦ They're on the right track!
It has been said that Shane Warne was a once in a lifetime player, once in a generation. The same will be said of Ricky Ponting. The man is a run-scoring machine, a bowler killer; a childhood prodigy that is finally realising his potential after a wayward path. His average his skyrocketing, with no sign of stopping. He is only racing time now to be remembered as one of the greatest batsmen to ever take guard.
Some of his achievements!
-Ricky Ponting is the only man in test history to score 1500 runs in two calendar years.
-Most centuries in a calendar year (7)
-He is only the 2nd cricketer to score centuries in both innings of a test on three occasions. Remarkably, 'punter' achieved this in a single season.
-Has scored the most test centuries of an Australian (34)
-Test captaincy record of 27 wins from 35 matches; best ratio of any Australian captain (77%).
-3rd in all time test wins by an Australian skipper behind Border (32) and Waugh (41)
-Most victories as ODI captain (116); 77.85% win rate
-Captained unbeaten in 22 World Cup matches; winning both Cups!
The List goes on, and on and on!
Click here to view Ponting's record breaking stats to date... It's quite impressive!
Ponting's Average - on the rise, fast
After a slow and disappointing start to his career, dogged by off-field incidents and squandered opportunities, Punter has finally found his feet. Becoming the most dominant batsmen the world has seen, for a long time... Not since... The comparisons may be premature, but surely he is the best since Bradmen!
Can anybody stop him?
The Twenty20 World Cup is upon us, and hopefully Ponting can add this to his bulging accolade list. Will he be the first man to lift the trophy? With the retirements of Warne, McGrath and Langer, Ponting will be under enormous pressure. The run-scoring beast will need to lift and if he does he will cement his place in cricket history as one of the greatest.
ICC Awards 2007
Cricketer of the year: Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Test player of the year: Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)
ODI player of the year: Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Captain of the year: Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Emerging player of the year: Shaun Tait (Aus)
Umpire of the year: Simon Taufel (Aus)
Women's cricketer of the year: Jhulan Goswami (Ind)
Associate ODI player of the year: Thomas Odoyo (Ken)
Spirit of cricket award: Sri Lanka
Test team of the year:
Matthew Hayden (Aus), Michael Vaughan (Eng), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Mohammad Yousuf (Pak), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Michael Hussey (Aus), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Stuart Clark (Aus), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), Mahkaya Ntini (SA), Mohammad Asif (Pak), Zaheer Khan (Ind) (12th man)
ODI team of the year:
Matthew Hayden (Aus), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Jacques Kallis (SA), Mark Boucher (SA), Chaminda Vaas (SL), Shane Bond (NZ), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), Glenn McGrath (Aus), Michael Hussey (Aus) (12th man)
What do you think of the sides? Did the ICC get it right? Surely there has to be a question mark over Kallis in the One-day team... Not even his national side wants him for that role...
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