Test Cricket Years noted... Obviously the players are playing with the masters before their debut...
A very short list of baton passing;
WC Grace (England) - 1880 - 1899
Aussie Cricketers;
Spofforth (cap 14) 1877-1887 & Murdoch (cap 13), 77-92
Gregory (Cap 58) 1890-1912 & Trumper (cap 79) 1899 - 1912 (died in 1914 with kidney problems)
Macartney 1907-26
Bradman 28-48 (Cap 124)
Harvey 48-63 & Benaud 52-64
Ian Chappell 64-80
Border 78-94 (and Taylor and Waugh)
Ponting 1995-2012+?
Then who ?? Who's the next young gun we're handing over to? Wade? Who's going to play at Test level from 2012/13/14 to 2028... ???
Useless Trivia... The Australian Test Cricket Team has average 3 new test caps each year from 1877-2007. From 2008 to now we have dished out 29 caps, or 7-8 caps per year.... including 10 caps in 2011. 15 Caps were dished out 1977, due to World Series Cricket.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australia_Test_cricketers
No way Pup.
Fast bowlers are lucky to play 20 innings straight theses days let alone 20 years.
You'd want to hope Michael Clarke can keep his form going with the Bat for the next 5-6 years.
The next No.3 they get to fill Punters spot will become a Legend i think.
Still, i haven't really answered anything there 
fair enough ....well I'll pull out my "smokey gun" then ....
Mitchell "little swampy" Marsh
This kid is the new Ian Botham/Kapil Dev/Imran Khan , he IS that good.
Oooo, Good call. 
He's definately being groomed for the all rounder spot isn't he!?
Maybe the next Steve Waugh
Got to get him in and established asap i reckon.
Geez Simondo don't get me started....... too late. Bowlers are rarely captains in modern Aus. cricket. Warne should have been, but wasn't so there's no bowler in current cricket that could be captain. Batters? well theres alot of people that think young Warner could be a future skipper but Warner follows in a long tradition of promoting "eye" players to the teams and "eye" players often have little or no technique. So players like Clarke,Ponting,Haddin,Steve Smith(remember him?)Hodge,Hughes and to some extent Warner are /were "eye" players, see it hit it players. And the trouble with those players is when they have a bad streak of form they can't rely on the basis of a good technique to get them out of it. So guys like Ponting who had no Technique to start with now have nothing to get them through the tough time of getting older and a bit slower. I think what tends to happen in the selection room is selectors get captured by shield players run scoring and not the quality of their runs. Phil Hughes and Steve Smith are perfect examples of selectors falling in love with players. It's interesting when you see players of technique batting at the same time as the Clarkes and Haddins. They stand out and make the game look simple. Cowan, Watson, Mike Hussey, Forrest, Fergusson,Bailey,Paine, khawajer all have techniques. My bet for a long term skipper would be Tim Paine.
for me it should be watson.
it is such a pity he's injured, he's quality through and through and everytime cricket australia has thrown him in the deep end he's smashed it.
he can bat, field and bowl. all the making of a good skipper.
saying that, clarke has done better than i thought he would.
ditto to that log man,
i'd pretty much written off clarke and ponting.
how wrong i was. 
I would on ability and aptitude say Watson, but heres the but, it is very unlikely he will ever be fit enough for long enough to do the job effectively.
Then I would have said Paine, but heres the but, will he come back from his finger injury, jury still out.
Warner, hmmm theres still a but, as someone else said in the absence of a solid technique he does rely on his eye and that may fail him at some stage.
It just might be we rely on Clarke for a while longer (I agree he is doing great job) and it will pan out in the future.
