1974: Born December 19 in Launceston, Tasmania.
2005 - September: Becomes first Australia captain since Allan Border to experience Ashes defeat as England win a thrilling series 2-1; Ponting scores 1,544 runs in the calendar year, an Australian record.
2006 - January: Becomes the only player to mark his 100th Test with a century in each innings, scoring 120 and 143no against South Africa in Sydney.
March: Scores 164 from only 105 balls in the fifth ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg, but sees the Proteas make 438 for nine in reply to Australia's 434 for four.
December: Leads Australia to a 5-0 whitewash of England with his two centuries seeing him pass Waugh's record of 32 Test tons for Australia.
2007 - April: In a World Cup match against South Africa in St Kitts, Ponting passes the 10,000-run mark in ODIs, the first Australian to reach the mark and seventh man in the world. Australia win the World Cup undefeated.
2008 - January: Victory in the second Test against India makes it 16 in a row for Ponting's Australia, tying a record. India win the next Test in Perth to end the run.
May: Scores his 10,000th Test run against the West Indies in Antigua. Border and Steve Waugh are the only other Australians to reach the mark.
2009 - August: Having scored 150 in the first Test in Cardiff, Ponting's team lose another Ashes series in England. 2-1 win.
September: Retires from Twenty20 internationals.
October: Australia win the ICC Champions Trophy with Ponting the tournament's leading run-scorer. He becomes the third man to pass 12,000 ODI runs.
2010 - January: Named by an elite panel as the world player of the decade.
December: Ashes series sees Ponting lose the urn to England for a third time, this time in front of Australian crowds. He struggles for runs as England win the series 3-1.
2011 - February/March: After missing a 6-1 one-day series win over England through injury, Ponting returns to lead Australia in the World Cup but his century is not enough to stop them losing to India in the quarter-finals.
March 29: Resigns as captain of Australia but says he wants to play on for the team.
2012 - January: Scores 134 and 221 against India in a return to form, passing 13,000 Test runs in the process.
February 20: Dropped from the one-day side for matches against Sri Lanka and India.
February 21:Announces his retirement from one-day internationals, but vows to play on in Test cricket.
November 29: Bows out with a disappointing return of four and eight in his last two knocks in Test cricket after announcing the match at the WACA against South Africa would be his last.
2013 - June 20: Announces he will retire from all forms of cricket following October's Champions League.
