Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting entered the record books on Wednesday when the Australia team beat Pakistan by 170 runs in the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Ponting has now captained more wins (42) in Test cricket than any other leader, and been on the winning side 93 times as a player, also more than anyone else.

Ponting hailed the win as one of Australia's best in recent times. "It's been a great game for us. It's one of our best Test wins in quite a while," he said.

Ponting was pleased to learn of his place as one of the most successful Test players in history.

"They're things I'm very proud of, hopefully there are a lot more wins around the corner and if we play the cricket that we've played over this five days then we will definitely win a lot more games," he said.