Ponting skippered a golden era in Australian cricket with the Baggy Green enjoying an unprecedented success under his leadership between 2002-11.

Ponting holds the incredible record of being the only player in the history of Test cricket to be part of 100 victories. He led Australia to victory at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups and was also a member of the 1999 World Cup winning team under Steve Waugh.

Turning 39 today, Ponting captained Australia to 48 Test victories in 77 matches. Aside from all the collective triumph, it should not be overlooked just how fine a cricketer Ponting was.

He is one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He leads the Aussies in runs in both Tests and ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis, is one of only four batsmen to score more than 13,000 Test runs.

1966: Alberto Tomba, the Italian is a skiing legend and won three Olympic gold medals during his career (49).

1974: Joe Jurevicius, former NFL wide receiver who won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (41).

1987: Karim Benzema, French footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish giants Real Madrid (28).

1988: Alexis Sanchez, Chilean footballer, previously of Barcelona, now at Premier League side Arsenal (27).