Ricky Thomas Ponting is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Ponting was captain of the Australian national team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and is the most successful captain in international cricket history, with 220 victories in 324 matches with a winning rate of 67.91%. He stands third in the list of cricketers by number of international centuries scored. He holds the record for winning most ICC tournaments as a captain in Men's Cricket. Under his Captaincy Australia won the 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups and 2006 and 2009 Champions Trophies. He was also a member of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first T20I, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games. The team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. Australia are the current ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup champions. They are regarded as most successful cricket teams in the history of Cricket.