Two Australian legends clash in our round of 64 - who gets your vote?
ODI GOAT: Bevan v Hussey
The #ODIGOAT is cricket.com.au's knockout competition to determine the greatest ODI player of all time. We've selected our top 64 ODI players and now we're asking YOU to do the hard work – that is, narrow it down to one. Set up in much the same way as a tennis tournament, each day you'll see head-to-head match-ups, with the winner of those progressing to the next round to square off with their next challenger. From 64, we'll go to 32, to 16, 8, 4 and ultimately our final. So cast your VOTE and decide just who is the greatest ODI player in history!
MIKE HUSSEY (AUSTRALIA)
The numbers: Matches: 185 | Runs: 5,442 | Average: 48.15 | SR: 87.16 | 100s: 3 | HS: 109no
Why he makes the list: Be it a quirk of fate or brilliant foresight, Michael Hussey's ODI debut came four weeks prior to the retirement of Bevan. Hussey had spent the vast majority of his first-class career as an opener, but with the powerful Gilchrist-Hayden pair occupying those positions, he was slotted into the middle-order. It was a move that immediately paid dividends; Hussey was an accumulator in the Bevan mould – quick between the wickets, clever at finding the gaps – but he had a power side to his game that meant boundaries could be cleared when the mood struck him. He went his first five innings without being dismissed, and it set the tone for his career as the 'new Bevan'. He captained Australia on four occasions for four losses – but scored two of his three hundreds in those matches – and was a part of Ricky Ponting's 2007 World Cup winning side. The 2009 calendar year was his finest; his 11 fifties in amongst 1,168 runs are the equal-most by an Australian.
Performance we loved: Batting with his brother David, Hussey did what he does best, orchestrated a wonderfully-timed run chase to defeat a strong New Zealand team at the Adelaide Oval in 2009. Set 245 to win, Australia lost their top order in the first half of the innings and the Hussey brothers were left with a virtual run-a-ball chase from there. They shared a 115-run stand before David fell with the finish line in sight, but Mike remained unbeaten, his brilliant 75no (71) containing just the four fours and a couple of timely sixes as he took control of the situation expertly. It was classic Hussey; the sort of knock his predecessor, MG Bevan, had earned his reputation on a decade earlier.
MICHAEL BEVAN (AUSTRALIA)
The numbers: Matches: 232 | Runs: 6,912 | Average: 53.58 | SR: 74.16 | 100s: 6 | HS: 108no
Why he makes the list: Before there was James Faulkner or Virat Kohli, before there was MS Dhoni or Mike Hussey or Lance Klusener … there was Michael Bevan. The original – and many argue still the best – 'Finisher', Bevan turned a run chase into an art form. Composed, classy and always confident, the left-hander's presence in the middle of a tense ODI eased the collective nerves of a nation. The key to his success was his ability to assess the situation and respond accordingly, usually with the perfect blend of sharply run ones and twos, and a perfectly-timed boundary to ease the pressure. His phenomenal ODI average is second only to AB de Villiers among Test-playing countries, and few players can have been as responsible for steering their sides to victory on so many occasions.
Performance we loved: There was no shortage of Bevo-inspired magical nights but we'll take the New Year's Day, 1996 SCG epic. Certainly among the most memorable nights of cricket in Australia's modern era, Bevan was the man to steer his country out of serious early trouble (chasing 173 in a rain-affected match against the Windies, the hosts slipped to 6-38), resurrecting the innings and setting his sights on victory. He found strong lower-order support and it all came down to the final ball – with four runs needed to win. Bevan was 74, facing Roger Harper, and he went straight, picking the gap down the ground and sealing history. Few realise it was just his second ODI half-century – he would go on to score another 44 in an incredible career.
#ODIGOAT First Round: Tendulkar v Sharma
#ODIGOAT First Round: Akram v Starc
#ODIGOAT First Round: Garner v Donald
#ODIGOAT First Round: Richards v de Silva
#ODIGOAT First Round: Azharuddin v Miandad
#ODIGOAT First Round: Dev v Vettori
#ODIGOAT First Round: Lloyd v Border
#ODIGOAT First Round: Jones v Clarke
#ODIGOAT First Round: Waqar v Johnson
#ODIGOAT First Round: Warne v Kumble
#ODIGOAT First Round: Hooper v S. Waugh
#ODIGOAT First Round: Imran v Hadlee
#ODIGOAT First Round: Lee v Akhtar
#ODIGOAT First Round: M. Waugh v Jayasuriya
#ODIGOAT First Round: De Villiers v Boucher
#ODIGOAT First Round: Lara v Amla
#ODIGOAT First Round: Gilchrist v McCullum
#ODIGOAT First Round: Gayle v Haynes
#ODIGOAT First Round: McGrath v Pollock
#ODIGOAT First Round: Anwar v Ganguly
#ODIGOAT First Round: Sehwag v Greenidge
#ODIGOAT First Round: Ponting v Gibbs
#ODIGOAT First Round: Dhoni v Sangakkara
#ODIGOAT First Round: Inzamam v Kallis
#ODIGOAT First Round: Murali v Hogg
#ODIGOAT First Round: Bond v Ambrose
#ODIGOAT First Round: Malinga v Vaas
#ODIGOAT First Round: Kohli v Pietersen
#ODIGOAT First Round: Symonds v Klusener
#ODIGOAT First Round: Afridi v Saqlain
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