Ricky Ponting lifts the 2007 prize © Getty Images

Will Swanton, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says Ricky Ponting’s desire to extend his Test career meant Twenty20s or one-dayers had to be obliterated from his schedule. He chose to get rid of Twenty20s.

Why had Australia's front man bucked popular opinion and chosen one-dayers over cricket's version of Beatlemania? Why turn his back on truckloads of cash, packed crowds, adrenaline rushes, sure-fire ratings hits and even more truckloads of cash? His simple answer: ''World Cup.''

Ponting plays his 334th one-day international, the most by an Australian, when his high-flying team meets Pakistan at the WACA on Friday. He is a behemoth of the most prestigious one-day tournament of all. Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Allan Border have all had moments of blinding brilliance in the World Cup's sun but Ponting's success shades them all.