Who is better, Botham or Ponting?
Ian Botham leads with a GOAT score of 88.8 against 88.7 for Ricky Ponting — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Botham vs Ponting
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Ian Botham above Ricky Ponting: 88.8 vs 88.7. Ian Botham leads on Peak, Statistics. Ricky Ponting leads on Longevity, Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BothamWinner
88.8Botham wins: Peak, Statistics
Ponting
88.7Ponting wins: Longevity, Honours
Candidates
Locked to CricketShareable URL · /compare/ian-botham-vs-ricky-ponting
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🏴 Ian Botham
88.8
Botham leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Ian Botham
2. Ricky Ponting
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through year 5 · Form index per season1. 🏴 Ian Botham5 years played · career day 1,825348 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇦🇺 Ricky Ponting5 years played · career day 3,287240 runs
-31.0% vs Botham at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🏴 Botham | 0 | 0 | 40 | 95 | 348 | 681 |
| 🇦🇺 Ponting | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 240 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 year periods are measured against the same career window.
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Botham88.8
Ponting88.7
FAQ
Where does Ponting beat Botham?
Ponting scores higher on honours, longevity. Botham leads on peak, statistics.
How is the Botham vs Ponting score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Botham: 88.8, Ponting: 88.7.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Botham vs Ponting. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.