Sydney, Oct.24 : There have been plenty of light moments in the cricket life of Ricky Ponting, too, and one of them surrounded his first involvement with Shane Warne at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide during the winter of 1992, of how the aspiring spin-king tried to lead him astray even though his then captain-to-be was a teenager at the time.

In his book, Ponting reveals that despite their age difference — Ponting was 17 and Warne almost 23 — "he headed in my direction and we shared some time together".

Writes Ponting in his Captain’s Dairy for 2007: "He was the bloke responsible for my nickname 'Punter', assigned to me because of my habit of sneaking down to the TAB on Monday and Thursday nights to have a bet on the greyhounds.

"I can't remember if he ever came with me, but I think he was impressed with my nerve, and the fact that I liked a bet. He tried to corrupt me a little, to get me into nightclubs even though I was under age, but I had one problem: I didn't own a pair of jeans and a good shirt.

"Finally, he dolled me up in decent gear and we did venture out, but I was like a rabbit in the headlights; I was more comfortable at the TAB," stuff.nz.com quoted Ponting, as saying. (ANI)