Australia’s greatest ODI player: Round 2

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.

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 10: Adam Gilchrist v Mark Waugh

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. Adam Gilchrist won 92% of the vote compared to 8% for Mark Waugh, meaning Gilchrist has progressed to the semi-finals

Adam Gilchrist

ODI record

M: 287 | Runs: 9619 | Ave: 35.89 | SR: 96.94 | 100s: 16 | 50s: 55 | HS: 172 | Ct: 417 | St: 55

World Cup record

M: 31 | Runs: 1085 | Ave: 36.16 | SR: 98.01 | 100s: 1 | 50s: 8 | HS: 149 | Ct: 45 | St: 7

World Cup titles won: 3

Having changed the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket forever, Gilchrist was also part of a revolution in the one-day game that transformed the sport. Moved to the top of the order on a hunch from his skipper Steve Waugh in 1998, Gilchrist scored at an almost a run a ball during his 12-year career, his career average of 36 a stunning measure of consistency given his high-risk approach. The ultimate allrounder, he has the second-most dismissals for an ODI keeper as well, and his match-winning century in the 2007 World Cup final ranks as one of the greatest in the tournament’s history.

Mark Waugh

ODI record

M: 244 | Runs: 8500 | Ave: 39.35 | SR: 76.90 | 100s: 18 | 50s: 50 | HS: 173 | Wkts: 85 | Ave: 34.56 | SR: 43.3 | Econ: 4.78 | BBI: 5-24

World Cup record

M: 22 | Runs: 1004 | Ave: 52.84 | SR: 83.73 | 100s: 4 | 50s: 4 | HS: 130 | Wkts: 5 | Ave: 62.60 | SR: 74.4 | Econ: 5.04 | BBI: 3-38

World Cup titles won: 1

Having spent his first 100 or so matches as a middle-order batsman and handy bowler, Mark Waugh’s career changed forever on the eve of the 1996 World Cup when he was permanently shifted to the top of the order in Australia’s one-day side. He responded with four hundreds in his next nine innings – including three in a memorable Cup campaign – and there he stayed for the rest of an outstanding career. Waugh’s serene stroke play belied a devastating ability to bully the opposition’s new-ball bowlers and his score of 173 against the West Indies in 2001 – a national record for more than six years – remains one of the highest by an Australian male.