Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting also a leader in fight against AIDS

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting talks about the impact of HIV and AIDS on children and young people.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has teamed up with Unite for Children. Unite against AIDS. Here is one in a series of 10 profiles of well known cricketers who are supporting the campaign.

RICKY PONTING is not only the leader of the Australian cricket team, he is also a leader in the fight against AIDS and an advocate for children and young people in particular.

“As a captain of a cricket team, we travel around the world so much, we get to know more about different cultures and experience different conditions and different life styles. Preferably we can all have the same idea on how we are going to prevent this disease around the world,” he said during a recent interview at the Champions Trophy in India.

“I think it’s up to all the captains of the all the countries where we travel to push the same idea across to every young person with whom they come in contact.  If we do that I am sure we can plan the best path we possibly can,” he added.

Ricky Ponting’s own awareness and experience of the world beyond cricket has lead him to become involved with the International Cricket Council, UNAIDS and UNICEF in promoting the Unite for Children. Unite against Aids campaign during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies.

“My message to my fans on HIV and AIDS would be to actually take the time to learn more and more about it,” he said. “Learn as much as about it as you possibly can and I am sure this can help to prevent this disease. We need to Unite for Children. Unite against AIDS,” he said.

Buccaneering style

Acclaimed by coach Rod Marsh as the best teenage batsman he had ever seen, Ricky Ponting began with Tasmania at 17 years of age and with the Australian national team at only 20. He remains the archetypal modern cricketer, playing all his shots with a full flourish of the bat and knows only to attack. His breathtaking fielding is also a force in the game by itself and his buccaneering style makes him a natural at one-day cricket.

Ricky Ponting led the successful 2003 World Cup campaign from the front and acceded to the Test crown when Steve Waugh stepped down in 2004.

As a captain, his batting remains untarnished and Waugh believes his successor will hold the game's run-scoring record when he retires.

Before he does retire, he will also continue to lead from the front in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Written and produced by Mont Tombleson