Ricky Ponting: Personal Life

Full name: Ricky Thomas Ponting
Born: 19 December 1974 (1974-12-19) (age 34)Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Nickname: Punter
Height: 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm mediumRight arm off break
Role: Batsman, Australian captain
National side: Australia
Test debut: 8 December 1995 v Sri Lanka

Runs scored(Test): 11,345

100s/50s(Test): 38/48

Top score(TEST): 257
ODI debut: 15 February 1995 v South Africa

Runs scored(ODI): 12,311

100s/50s(ODI): 28/73

Top score(ODI): 164

ODI shirt no.: 14

Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974 in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia), nicknamed Punter, is the current captain of the Australian cricket team. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic cricket and plays in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania in November 1992, when just 17 years and 337 days old-becoming the youngest Tasmanian to play in a Sheffield Shield match. However he had to wait until 1995 before making his One Day International debut, during a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in a match against South Africa. His Test debut followed shortly after, when selected for the first Test of the 1995 home series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96. He lost his place in the national team several times in the period before early-1999, due to lack of form and discipline, before becoming One Day International captain in early-2002 and Test captain in early-2004.
After being involved in over 130 Tests and 300 ODIs, Ponting is Australia's leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket, with more than 23,000 international runs as of September 2009. He has scored 39 Test centuries—behind only Indian Sachin Tendulkar (42)—and third for most runs and centuries in ODIs behind Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Birth and personal life:
Born in Launceston, Tasmania on 19 December 1974, Ricky Ponting is the eldest of Graeme and Lorraine Ponting's four children. Graeme was "a good club cricketer" and played Australian rules, while Lorraine was a state vigoro champion. His uncle Greg Campbell played cricket for Australia in 1989 and 1990. Ponting's parents first lived in Prospect 4.1 km (2.5 mi) south of city centre; however, they moved into the working-class area of Newnham, 6 km (3.7 mi) north of central Launceston.
After marrying long-time girlfriend—law student Rianna Jennifer Cantor—in June 2002, Ponting credited her as the reason for his increased maturity. On 26 February 2008, it was announced that they were expecting their first child. Daughter Emmy Charlotte was born in Sydney, Australia on 26 July 2008.