I disagree- like i said, Ponting did nothing different than the Dravids, Laras, Richards of the world- extremely talented people who were not prodigal talents. And yes, it takes a couple of years to break into FC games. But if Henriques was doing the same thing in grade cricket at age 13, he would've made FC debut by 15. Thats the whole point you miss - Tendulkar was not just lighting up the scene - he was doing it consistently at levels that were 4-5 years his senior from the age of 10. Yes, the OZ system is harder for younger players, but history shows - prodigal talents almost always get fast-tracked and the diffrence between one place or another is a year or two at most. And if Tendulkar was an Aussie, he too would've debuted in 1989/1990- like i said, the 4th best middle order batsman wasnt exactly doing pulling good enough numbers to keep a prodigal talent averaging 50+ in FC cricket out of the team. You are missing the point by calling Ponting a prodigal talent, when infact, the progidal talent of the last 20-30 years is Tendulkar- no one comes close to him in that department. Ponting's junior level feats are no more spectacular than the ones accomplished by lara, dravid, viv, greg chappell etc. But Tendulkar- his feats were extraordinary.