Atherton believes Ponting’s attitude was his most defining trait

Former England captain Michael Atherton has hailed ex-Australia skipper Ricky Ponting as one of the greatest competitors to ever represent the country.

Ponting played an unbelievable 168 Test matches during his 17-year career, which is the same number the great Steve Waugh played as well, and scored 13,378 runs at an average of 51.85.

Ponting also scored 41 Test centuries, which only puts him behind India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who has an outstanding 51.

Atherton, who played against Ponting during his international career, noted that he would remember the former Australia captain more for his attitude than the number of runs he scored.

“He’s right up there (with the best ever), averaging more than 50, the second most Test runs and more than 40 hundreds,” Sports24 quoted Atherton as saying. “But I don’t think of him so much in a statistical way. He was just a great competitor for Australia.”