Throughout the long cricketing history Australia has been blessed with enormous batting talents. There are very few teams in the world who could match the class of Australian batting line-ups. From Sir Don Bradman to Victor Trumper; Keith Miller to Steve Waugh; Ricky Ponting to Steve Smith. There seems to be no match for these batting greats.
Australian Cricket Batting Line-up is the coaching manual who has reclassified the batting techniques throughout the cricketing history. If there is a term called dominance through batting in cricket then it is started by Australian batting line up. One of the reasons in the Australian victories over the years was his batting strength.
Let us take a look at the top five greatest batsman in the Australian cricket history:
Sir Don Bradman:
Few say his record book in himself while others say him the coaching manual of playing cricket but in the end he was the complete cricketer in every sense who had played this game of cricket. There are few or hardly anyone in the world who could match the calibre of this greatest batsman in cricket.
Nicknamed “Braddles” his first class records are proof that he was destined to be the greatest cricketer ever. In 234 matches Bradman scored 28,067 runs at an average of 95.14 which include 117 centuries and 69 half-centuries. While in international cricket in 69 tests Bradman scored 6996 runs at an average of 99.94 which include 29 centuries and 13 half-Centuries.
In his 20 year of cricket career Australia had never lost the series under his captaincy. He also holds the record of most runs in a single series with 974 run at an average of 75 and most runs in a single day of a test match – 390 runs.
Ricky Ponting:
If there will ever be written about Australian Cricket History. The name of Ricky Ponting will be in the top three Cricketers of all-time. Such was his aura during the course of his career. Quite hard to describe him as a great batsman or a great captain. Even if someone talks about the golden era of Australian Cricket then it was Ricky Ponting who was the reason behind the greatest team to have ever played cricket.
In the 17 years of cricket career Ponting has scored 13704 runs in 375 ODIs at an average of 42.04 which include 30 centuries and 82 half-centuries. While in 168 tests Ponting Scored 13778 runs at an average of 51.85 which include 41 centuries and 62 half-centuries.
Nickname “Punter” Ricky Ponting was the part three world winning team in which he was the captain of two times in 2003 and 2007. Ponting's counter attacking abilities against any team makes him the most dangerous batsman across the formats of his era who single handedly took the game away from the opposition team with his whirlwind batting.
Steve Waugh:
Probably the best and smartest captain in the history of cricket. If it was not Steve Waugh in the mid 80s to late 90s perhaps we couldn't have witnessed the golden era of Australian cricket in the 2000 era. The Culture that Australia Cricket has over the years was started and formed up by Steve Waugh when Cricket Australia was an average team in the 80s.
During the 19 years of his career Steve Waugh has scored 10927 runs at an average of 51.06 in 168 tests with 32 centuries and 50 half-centuries while in the 325 ODIs Waugh scored 7569 runs at an average of 32.90 with 3 centuries and 45 half-centuries.
Perhaps his ODI numbers do not do justice to his class and temperament but in the pressure situation there is probably no better batsman than Steve Waugh in the middle order for the team. Steve Waugh was the captain of the World Cup winning team of Australia in 1999.
Steve Smith:
Maybe it looks surprising to see his name in the top five but facts don't lie that he is the greatest batsman of the current era. A decade back when Steve Smith debuted for Australia as a leg-spinner there were speculations that he was a T-20 player with his unorthodox technique of batting apart from the other formats. But towards the end of 2020 Steve Smith has proved everyone wrong with the unorthodox coaching manual of batting.
In 73 tests Smith has scored 7227 runs at an average of 62.84 with 26 centuries and 29 half-centuries while in 125 ODIs Smith scored 4162 runs at an average of 42.47 with 9 centuries and 25 half-centuries.
For some it maybe his ODIs numbers are not good but looking at his test records there is no doubt that he is greatest test batsman of this era who has scored runs against every A-List teams on any surface but Ashes Series 2019 was Steve Smith was best performance of his career when he scored 774 runs in 4 tests at an average of 110.57 with 3 centuries, 3 half-centuries and one double hundred to enter the elite club of Sir Don Bradman 974 runs in one series.
Mathew Hayden:
Mathew Hayden – The Artist of Flamboyant Batting. In the top five cricketers of all-time players like Mathew Hayden will have his name every time. The first half of his career was completely rough. Hardly there is anything to remember with his batting strength till 1999. But when he returned as an opener in 2000 in test cricket still the speculations were he would be the one-series wonder. But followed next was the art of complete elegance and timing with the flow of whirlwind batting. From 2000-2008 hardly there is a bowler in the world who would have wanted to bowl like Hayden. Such was his impact in the second half of his career. The tag of most dangerous left-handed opening batsman was perfectly defined by Hayden like no other in history.
In 103 tests Hayden scored 8625 runs at an average of 50.73 with 30 centuries and 29 half-centuries while in 161 ODIs Hayden Scored 6133 runs at an average of 43.81 with 10 centuries and 36 half-centuries.
Mathew Hayden was the vital cog of golden generation of Australian team and part of two world cup world winning team 2003 and 2007 who like to play anchor role and at the same time like to defensive role with his solid defensive technique. He was one of those few batsmen who was successful in the subcontinent pitches too against the quality spin attack. Even Justin Langer reckoned that “Mathew Hayden was the best opening batsman produced by Australia”
