ODI debut: 15/2/95
Past World Cups: 1996, 1999
Right-arm off-break bowler
Ponting is tipped as his country's next Test captain, but for now must make do with the one-day job.
He was deservedly given the role in 2002 having become an integral part of Australia's success in the shorter game.
The first Tasmanian to assume the Australian captaincy, Ponting leads by example as can be seen from his first series as skipper when he finished as his country's leading run scorer in South Africa.
His batting can be destructive and his fielding is feverish.
He plays his shots all around the wicket and has scored one-day centuries against all the major cricketing nations.
In 1999 he became the first Australian to score 1,000 one-day runs in successive years to go with his record of being the youngest Aussie to score a one-day ton at the age of 21.