Reuters

Melbourne, Jan 2: Australia captain Ricky Ponting celebrates his 100th Test appearance in the third and final Test against South Africa, starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday.

Ponting will join an elite band of just nine Australians to reach the milestone, a decade after he burst on to the world stage in 1995, scoring 96 on debut against Sri Lanka.

"It's a great milestone for anybody to play 100 Test matches," Ponting told a news conference on Sunday.

"It's an absolute pleasure to play one but to be around long enough to play 100 is something that anybody can be very proud of."

At 31, Ponting is showing no signs of ever slowing down and is arguably in the best form of his career.

The Tasmanian was the world's leading runscorer in 2005 and starts 2006 officially ranked as the world's best batsman.

"Ten years of international cricket has passed me by pretty quickly," he said.

"I still feel pretty much the same now as when I first started so that's obviously a good sign for me. The enjoyment's still there as much as it's ever been and my body feels great."

Ponting was earmarked for greatness at a very young age. An aggressive right-hander who can play every shot in the book and has the perfect temperament, he made his Test debut just before his 21st birthday.

A dubious umpiring decision cost him a century on debut, but he has made up for that disappointment by scoring a mountain of runs ever since.

Heading into his 100th Test, Ponting has 7,990 runs at an average of 56.27 with 26 centuries.

"Looking back, it certainly would have been nice to score a hundred on debut but that wasn't to be," he said.

"I was really upset at the time, but there were lots of great memories from that game. I made a pretty good start and that's where it all began for me."

But not everything went according to plan for the talented wild-child of Australian cricket.

He was dropped a year later and twice found himself in trouble with officials after being involved in nightclub scuffles.

But Ponting quickly learnt from his mistakes and developed a maturity that has made him one of the most respected players in world cricket.

"I'm not sure if that helped me become a better cricketer but they probably helped me become a smarter person," he explained.

"I think when anyone has any sort of setback in their career you look at it and try and learn from it and work out how you can improve yourself."

Ponting replaced Steve Waugh as Australian one-day captain in 2002 and led his team to victory in the 2003 World Cup, scoring an unbeaten 140 in the final against India.

A year later, he took over the Test captaincy when Waugh retired from the game and has led his team to 16 wins from 24 Tests in charge.

Australia have lost just three Tests under Ponting's leadership but two of those were in last year's Ashes series, which England won 2-1.

Ponting played one of the finest innings of his career when he made 156 at Old Trafford to draw the third Test but was heavily criticised for his captaincy during the series.

Australia haven't lost in their six Tests since and Ponting is already plotting revenge for when England tour Australia late this year to defend the Ashes in the most eagerly awaited series in decades.

"I don't think any performances in my career have spurred me on to do better next time. I've always been one for getting out there and trying to do the best in that game," he said.

"Coming back from England we knew the next Ashes series wasn't very far off. All of the guys have been very conscious of the next Ashes series. Everything that we've done since has been to improve our team."