Ahead of the 2019 World Cup, take a closer look at Australia’s greatest ever one-day cricketers and vote for your favourite
With the 11th edition of the men’s World Cup to get underway later this month, we want to know – who is Australia’s greatest ever one-day player?
Australia are the most successful one-day side in history, winning more than 60 per cent of their 932 matches and lifting the World Cup trophy a record five times, including three consecutive wins between 1999 and 2007.
Of the 228 men to have played ODI cricket for Australia, we’ve narrowed it down to the best-ever 16 to help decide the greatest of them all. Such is Australia’s long history of one-day talent, star players like Allan Border, David Warner and Michael Clarke haven’t made the cut in our top 16, leaving only the best of the best to fight it out for the title of Australia’s ODI GOAT.
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Players have been rated on their performances across their one-day careers, with performances on the biggest stage of a World Cup weighted more heavily.
Fans can have their say in a series of head-to-head polls over the next week, with votes to be tallied across cricket.com.au, the CA Live app as well as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Match 5: Shane Warne v Greg Chappell
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. Shane Warne won 92% of the vote compared to 8% for Greg Chappell, meaning Warne has progressed to Round 2
Being the man he is, it’s little wonder some of Shane Warne’s greatest performances in one-day cricket came in knockout matches at World Cups. The spin king will forever be remembered for his stunning double in the semi-final and final of the 1999 tournament, when he dragged himself out of the worst form slump of his career to engineer Australia’s path to the title. Three years earlier, he produced another rescue act against the West Indies in a thrilling semi-final win, but his World Cup career was ultimately curtailed unexpectedly, a drug ban on the eve of the 2003 tournament denying him another title.
Playing in a time before ODI cricket was taken as seriously as it is today, Greg Chappell has to be considered a great of the game when the era in which he played his fully appreciated. The equal-fastest Australian to 1000 career runs, his career average of 40 puts him in the top echelon of players from his time, alongside the likes of Zaheer Abbas, Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge. And despite retiring more than 35 years ago, Chappell’s career strike of 75.70 compares favourably with contemporaries like Ricky Ponting (80.19), Matthew Hayden (78.98), Mark Waugh (76.90) and Michael Bevan (74.16), all regarded as free-flowing players by more modern standards.
Match 6: Brett Lee v Shane Watson
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. Brett Lee won 54% of the vote compared to 46% for Shane Watson, meaning Lee has progressed to Round 2
Terrifyingly quick with the new ball and able to produce deadly reverse swing with the old, Lee was the ideal one-day bowler. Restricted to just 10 overs a game, the paceman was able to let the handbrake off and bowl fast and full wicket-taking deliveries with the new white ball – which he regularly swung more than the red ball in Test cricket – and then fire in perfect yorkers late in the innings. His 22 wickets were key to Australia’s 2003 Cup triumph and only injury denied him a chance at a second Cup win four years later.
The 11th most prolific Australian ever with the bat and seventh with the ball, Watson is perhaps still slightly underrated despite his impressive career in the one-day game. A lower-order finisher in Australia’s 2007 World Cup win, Watson transformed himself into a dominant and intimidating opening batsman before returning to the middle order for the 2015 tournament, where he celebrated another title. Having started as a fast-bowling allrounder – he batted as low as No.9 in the order early in his career – the evolution of Watson is a testament to his ability.
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. Shane Warne won 92% of the vote compared to 8% for Greg Chappell, meaning Warne has progressed to Round 2
Shane Warne
ODI record
M: 194 | Wkts: 293 | Ave: 25.73 | SR: 36.3 | Econ: 4.25 | BBI: 5-33 | 5WI: 1
World Cup record
M: 17 | Wkts: 32 | Ave: 19.50 | SR: 30.5 | Econ: 3.83 | BBI: 4-29 | 5WI: 0
World Cup titles won: 1
Being the man he is, it’s little wonder some of Shane Warne’s greatest performances in one-day cricket came in knockout matches at World Cups. The spin king will forever be remembered for his stunning double in the semi-final and final of the 1999 tournament, when he dragged himself out of the worst form slump of his career to engineer Australia’s path to the title. Three years earlier, he produced another rescue act against the West Indies in a thrilling semi-final win, but his World Cup career was ultimately curtailed unexpectedly, a drug ban on the eve of the 2003 tournament denying him another title.
Greg Chappell
ODI record
M: 74 | Runs: 2331 | Ave: 40.18 | SR: 75.70 | 100s: 3 | 50s: 14 | HS: 138*
World Cup record
M: 5 | Runs: 159 | Ave: 25.80 | SR: 75.43 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 1 | HS: 50
World Cup titles won: 0
Playing in a time before ODI cricket was taken as seriously as it is today, Greg Chappell has to be considered a great of the game when the era in which he played his fully appreciated. The equal-fastest Australian to 1000 career runs, his career average of 40 puts him in the top echelon of players from his time, alongside the likes of Zaheer Abbas, Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge. And despite retiring more than 35 years ago, Chappell’s career strike of 75.70 compares favourably with contemporaries like Ricky Ponting (80.19), Matthew Hayden (78.98), Mark Waugh (76.90) and Michael Bevan (74.16), all regarded as free-flowing players by more modern standards.
Match 6: Brett Lee v Shane Watson
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. Brett Lee won 54% of the vote compared to 46% for Shane Watson, meaning Lee has progressed to Round 2
Brett Lee
ODI record
M: 221 | Wkts: 380 | Ave: 23.36 | SR: 29.4 | Econ: 4.76 | BBI: 5-22 | 5WI: 9
World Cup record
M: 17 | Wkts: 35 | Ave: 17.97 | SR: 23.5 | Econ: 4.57 | BBI: 5-42 | 5WI: 1
World Cup titles won: 1
Terrifyingly quick with the new ball and able to produce deadly reverse swing with the old, Lee was the ideal one-day bowler. Restricted to just 10 overs a game, the paceman was able to let the handbrake off and bowl fast and full wicket-taking deliveries with the new white ball – which he regularly swung more than the red ball in Test cricket – and then fire in perfect yorkers late in the innings. His 22 wickets were key to Australia’s 2003 Cup triumph and only injury denied him a chance at a second Cup win four years later.
Shane Watson
ODI record
M: 190 | Runs: 5757 | Ave: 40.54 | SR: 90.44 | 100s: 9 | 50s: 33 | HS: 185* | Wkts: 168 | Ave: 31.79 | SR: 38.4 | Econ: 4.95 | BBI: 4-36
World Cup record
M: 22 | Runs: 643 | Ave: 53.58 | SR: 108.06 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 6 | HS: 94 | Wkts: 9 | Ave: 62.88 | SR: 73.0 | Econ: 5.16 | BBI: 1-9
World Cup titles won: 2
The 11th most prolific Australian ever with the bat and seventh with the ball, Watson is perhaps still slightly underrated despite his impressive career in the one-day game. A lower-order finisher in Australia’s 2007 World Cup win, Watson transformed himself into a dominant and intimidating opening batsman before returning to the middle order for the 2015 tournament, where he celebrated another title. Having started as a fast-bowling allrounder – he batted as low as No.9 in the order early in his career – the evolution of Watson is a testament to his ability.