Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the third day’s play at Old Trafford, Ponting said, “If he keeps going on like this, that could very well happen today.

“It’s a great day for batting and what a remarkable career it’s been for Joe. How he’s transformed from someone that couldn’t go on past fifty to hundreds. Now it seems like every time he gets to fifty, you just mark him down for a hundred, or a big hundred.

“Just looking at some of the numbers, 37 Test match hundreds, 13000 runs, what an amazing career to-date.”