After doing an article for the greatest bowler to ever play for Australia it is time to talk about the batters because they also deserve some of our love and in this article we have 2 of the very best that have played for Australia in both formats of the sport. And they are also 2 of the best captains to ever lead the Australian team ,so it will be fair comparing these 2 to see who is the greatest.
Before we compare the stats of these 2 greats, I have to say that the way they led the team from the front by scoring lots of runs and giving their team an advantage, they are the examples of great leaders. So, let’s look at the stats of these 2 greats.
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting is one of the best batters to have ever played the sport and he is the man who has scored the most runs for Australia in international cricket history. Ricky Ponting is also the man who has led Australia to 2 back to back World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007. The team looked up to him and he delivered most of the time.
Test Cricket
Ricky Ponting played 168 Test Matches for Australia and in those test matches he made a whopping 13378 runs for Australia. He also scored 41 Test hundreds and 6 double Hundreds in test cricket in his glittering career. He has an average of 51.85 which is very impressive. Ricky Ponting knew when to score and how to score runs all the time.
ODI Cricket
There are very few batters who have been as successful in both Test Cricket and ODI Cricket and Ricky Ponting is one of those. He played a total of 375 ODIs for Australia and he made 13703 runs in his career. He scored 30 hundreds in ODIs as well and he is only the second batter to have more than 13000 international runs in both formats of the sport.
Also Read | Sachin Tendulkar vs Ricky Ponting - stats comparison as Batter
Steve Waugh
Before there was Ricky Ponting, Australia had Steve Waugh who was the leader and the best batter in the team and he was great. Steve Waugh had the respect of the entire cricketing World and he used to score runs when it mattered the most.
Also Read | Steve Waugh vs Wasim Akram Rivalry and Head to Head
Test Cricket
Just like Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh also played 168 Test Matches in his career and in those matches he made 10927 runs at an average of 51.06. He also made 32 test hundreds and 1 double hundred as well. He was the Rock of the Australian team.
ODI Cricket
Steve Waugh was a very good ODI Player as well as he played 325 ODIs for Australia. He made a total of 7569 runs in ODIs at an average of 32.91 and he scored 3 hundreds in this format. It can be said that Steve Waugh was not as successful in this format as he was in test cricket.
Also Read | Top 10 Greatest Australian Cricketers of all time
Who is the greatest?
There is not much of a contest in this one as in Test Cricket despite playing the same number of test matches Ricky Ponting has more than 2500 runs more than Steve Waugh and he has more hundreds and double Hundreds. And in the ODI format there is no contest because Ricky Ponting only played 50 more ODIs than Steve Waugh but he has 6000+ more runs than him. So, it can be said that Ricky Ponting is the greatest batter that Australia has seen in both formats of cricket.
Also Read: Ricky Ponting vs Jacques Kallis – Stats Comparison as Batter
