A 9-year-old Ricky Ponting had made the state of Tasmania change its school cricket rules. He used to bat the whole day without getting dismissed and he managed to remain unbeaten for a whole season. 

Seeing Ponting bat, Tasmania made mandatory for players to retire after scoring 30 runs. But the former Australia captain also found a way to deal with it. 

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“As a nine-year-old, I played the whole first season of school cricket without getting out, and then at the start of the next year, they changed the rules so that you had to retire at 30,” Ponting told Herald Sun.

Ponting decided to take single off last delivery of every over and he didn't score in the first five deliveries to bat as long as possible. 

“So from there on, I’d open the batting, try and face as many balls as I could, and not score many runs. I’d get a single on the last ball of every over, so I retained the strike. I’d get to the other end and ask the umpire what I was on. I’d try to get to 29 and hit a four or six off the last ball,” he said.

When Ponting was in eighth grade, he scored four centuries in a week after which bat manufacturer Kookaburra gave him a sponsorship contract.