Ponting says 300th ODI nothing to write home about

Australian captain Ricky Ponting does not believe that playing his 300th one-day international is anything to write home about.

Sydney, June 27 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting does not believe that playing his 300th one-day international is anything to write home about.

While he agrees and is happy about the fact that he will be the second Australian, Steve Waugh (325) being the first, to achieve this feat, Ponting has found discussing his growing list of records tiresome, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Whether driven by modesty or disinterest, Ponting is no pontificator when it comes to milestones, says the paper.

During a press conference to discuss his impending 300th one-day international, Ponting said: "I've got a good mate, Glenn Archer, who played 300 games, and I really respected him for the fact he could stay in that game for that long. So, guess other people might see [my 300th game] in a slightly different way than I do. There might be some other people at home thinking what a great effort that is, what a great achievement that is to play 300 games."

Friday's match against the West Indies at the National Stadium will not only take Ponting to the exclusive 300 club, but also past Allan Border as Australia's second most-capped cricketer. Ponting's career tally of 119 Tests, 300 one-day internationals and 11 Twenty20 internationals will be one better than Border's total of 429 total caps, and behind only Steve Waugh on 493.

That achievement, more than anything, should appeal to Ponting, who insists longevity means more to him than run-scoring feats.

"I just think for longevity you have to do a lot of things right," he said. "I know a lot of the guys that I've played with use these sorts of things as motivation - going on a tour and knowing how many wickets they've taken and knowing how many they need to take for milestones. For me, it's just never, ever been about any of that stuff."

Ponting's one-day international career began inauspiciously - bowled for one by little-known South African medium-pacer Eric Simons - but has since become Australia's most prolific scorer in limited-overs history. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Inzamam ul-Haq and Sourav Ganguly have scored more than Ponting's 11,031, but with the exception of Tendulkar (44.33), none can claim to have bettered the Australian captain's career average of 43.25.

Ponting will be keen to address a recent limited overs form slump, in which he has produced just eight runs from his past four games.

ANI