A man who reached peak

Ricky Thomas Ponting began his ascent of Mt Cricket as a precociously gifted 17-year-old way back in 1995.

After reaching the summit in 2004 and having a good, long, hard look around, he began the descent on Tuesday a battle-weary, but not beaten 36-year-old.

The spit-in-the-hands, no-frills skipper of the Australian Test and one-day sides has stepped down from those posts and will now just bat out the twilight of one of the greatest Aussie cricket careers of all-time; perhaps second only in batsmanship to the legendary Sir Donald Bradman.