Australia's greatest ODI XI of all time
Australia is the most successful nation in cricket’s history. They have won almost 50% of the test matches they have played in, which makes them the team with the highest ratio of wins in test cricket. They have also won 4 ODI World Cups and finished runners-up on 2 occasions.
Moreover, most of the innovations of modern-day cricket trace their origins to Australia. Australia is the country where cricket was first played with colored clothing, white ball and black sightscreens. Australia also hosted the first ever day-night one-day match.
Australia has also given birth to some wonderful limited over cricketers. Here is a look at Australia’s greatest ever one-day XI:
#1 Mark Waugh
Junior, as Mark Waugh was fondly known among his teammates, was one of the most elegant batsmen of all time. Very few batsmen in the history of cricket have caressed the ball as sweetly as him. He was also a brilliant timer of the ball and had a wide range of strokes in his repertoire.
Waugh was simply stupendous in the shorter version of the game. He could play some magnificent cover drives, loft the ball nonchalantly over the short mid-wicket and hit some audaciously beautiful flicks. He seemed to have more time than the other batsmen to play his strokes and it was a proof of his undeniable class as a batsman.
Waugh was also a player for the big occasions. He made 3 centuries in the 1996 World Cup and 1 more in 1999. He also made a breathtaking 173 against West Indies in a tri-series final at the MCG, which remains his highest score in one-dayers. He was a middle-order batsman in tests, but was elevated in the batting order to play as an opener in the one-dayers.
Waugh made 8500 runs from 244 matches at an average of 39.4 in his ODI career. He also made 18 centuries and 50 half-centuries. He was a very useful off-spin bowler as well and took 85 wickets in his ODI career. He also remains one of the greatest fielders of all time.