Ricky Ponting reveals he marked his hundreds on the bat handle

Former Australia men’s cricket team captain Ricky Ponting has shared one of his past memories with his followers on social media. Ponting revealed that he would mark his hundreds on the handle of his bats under the grip.

Sharing the picture of his bat on Instagram, Ponting wrote, “In the back half of my career I marked the hundreds I made on the handle of my bats under the grip. This is the bat I used when I made 156 against England at Manchester in the 2005 Ashes.” In that 2005 Ashes match, Ponting remained at the crease for six hours, scoring 156. But, he got out with 24 balls to go, leaving the responsibility on the shoulders of Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath to take the game to a draw. England had made 444 in the first innings, while Australia scored 302. In the second innings, England declared at 280-6 and Australia courtesy Ponting’s knock managed to reach 371-9. Ponting, who led Australia to two World Cup wins, recently said that he considered the 2008 ‘Monkeygate’ scandal the lowest point of his captaincy stint. In a Sky Sports podcast, Ponting said he feels he was not in control of what happened at that time. The scandal came to the fore after Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was charged with racially abusing Australian player Andrew Symonds during a Test match at Sydney.