Cricket: Ponting warms up with unbeaten 162

SYDNEY: Veteran Australia batsman Ricky Ponting smashed an unbeaten 162 in the Sheffield Shield as his fine form continued ahead of the first Test against South Africa.

The 37-year-old, who was dumped from the One-Day International and Twenty20 international squads, has not played a Test since the West Indies last April but has put himself through a gruelling training regime to be ready for the Proteas tour. Ponting hit 20 boundaries and one six in a superb display that lasted eight minutes shy of six hours for Tasmania against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, to follow his unbeaten 85 against South Australia. The first of three Tests against South Africa gets underway in Brisbane on November 9 before three Tests with Sri Lanka, also at home. The former skipper, who has played 165 Tests, could break Steve Waugh’s record as Australia’s most-capped cricketer in the first match of the Sri Lanka series.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2012.