Pick the Kit: Lightning Bolts v Blue Stripe

The second semi-final of our Pick the Kit fan vote pits the Lightning Bolts strip from the early 90s against the Blue Stripe outfit worn at the dawn of the 21st Century in a head-to-head showdown.

Cricket Australia, with the support of kit-maker Asics and sponsor Alinta Energy, have thrown open the choice for the design of 2019-20 men's one-day uniform to Australia's fans.

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. The Lightning Bolts kit won 56% of the vote compared to 44% for the Blue Stripe kit

Read on for a stroll down memory lane.

The fan vote will be run in a head-to-head format until there's a final winner from the shortlist of eight uniforms worn by some of the greats of Australian cricket in the golden age between 1980 and 2001.

The 1993-94 Lightning Bolts

Has there ever been a more electrifying uniform in cricket? Pardon the pun, but this really was high voltage stuff.

Seven thin jagged bolts of white lightning streak down the front and back of the shirt, across the shoulders, with shading of red and a thicker green giving it a kind of three-dimensional effect. An angled font in block letters – with larger As at either end – emblazon the team name across the sternum.

With the early 90s bringing us the baseball-inspired kit and colourful 1992 World Cup strip featured elsewhere in this Pick the Kit competition, the emergence of the lightning bolts brought with it an injection of talent.

There are some famous names to have played their first ODIs on Australian soil in this kit, including Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath and a young man named Shane Keith Warne.

This kit was only worn for home matches across the 1992-93 and 1993-94 summers, with an ODI series in England in May 1993 played in white clothes.

Australia won 12 of their 21 ODIs overall in the lightning bolts; they lost to the West Indies in the final of the 1992-93 World Series that also featured Pakistan, but inspired by Warne and a run glut from Mark Waugh, they triumphed over South Africa in the 1993-94 summer that also featured New Zealand.

Having made his ODI debut earlier that year, Warne dominated that 1993-94 campaign, taking 22 wickets in 10 matches.

The 1999-2001 Blue Stripe

The coming turn of the century called for a brave new approach in Australian one-day kit design, and the Blue Stripe was born, adding a bold splash of colour and creating a kit that fans either love, or love to hate.

This kit was also the first a legend of Australian one-day cricket wore and is still closely associated with him.

Brett Lee burst onto the scene in the 1999-2000 summer and took 16 wickets in his first ODI series. The highlight was an Australia Day blitz that left India reeling; in 8.5 blistering overs, Lee claimed 5-27 with a flying Stuart MacGill at third man helping the right-armer win his first of many battles with Sachin Tendulkar.

This is the kit current Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has declared has his support in the fan vote, and who is to argue with the reigning Allan Border Medal winner?

This kit also coincided with the Lee brothers – Shane and Brett – playing together in a side that also featured Steve and Mark Waugh.

And the rise of Andrew Symonds, who entered Australia's ODI side the winter before Blue Stripe was introduced, coincided with this kit, while Nathan Bracken also made his ODI debut in this uniform. A powerful team and the basis of a multiple World Cup winning side.

The Blue Stripe also has the honour of being the first Australian ODI kit worn indoors, when the Aussies met South Africa under the roof at what is now known as Marvel Stadium in Melbourne's Docklands.

In the middle of August, some 35,000 spectators turned out while an Australian Rules match was being played across town, and saw Australia scramble a single off the final ball to force a tie.

Incredible things regularly happened in this kit. Like Brett Lee's magnificent outfield catch in New Zealand, or the time Ricky Ponting took the wicket of West Indies legend Brian Lara, caught behind by Adam Gilchrist at the Gabba in early 2001.

In that same game, Mark Waugh scored an unbeaten 112 not out and Gilchrist added 98 to set an opening-partnership record of 206.

This truly was a joyous era of one-day cricket domination. Of the 32 ODIs Australia played in this kit they won 25, with just five defeats (one wash-out, and the aforementioned tie).